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MARCELLUS HARTLEY 

A BRIEF MEMOIR 




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1903 



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TO 

MARCELLUS HARTLEY DODGE 

THE OBJECT 

TO THE GRANDFATHER WHOSE NAME HE BEARS 

OF A LOVE MORE THAN PATERNAL 



PREFACE 

SEVERAL friends of the late Marcellus Hartley, who 
for the past five and twenty years have been in 
close business and personal relations with him, believing 
that a life so useful and patriotic as his should not be 
allowed to lapse into obscurity, have desired that some 
memorial of him should be published. 

The difficulty of giving interest and color to such a 
sketch is evident. The life of Mr. Hartley was mainly 
passed in mercantile pursuits ; aside from his files ot 
business letters, he kept no journal and preserved no 
account of one of the most interesting periods of his 
career — that which he spent in procuring arms and equip- 
ment for the troops called into service during the open- 
ing months of the Civil War. Then, too, few men were 
more reticent; rarely could he be induced to talk on 
this matter, or, indeed, on any other of a business 
nature. He seemed to think that the silence imposed 
upon him when acting in the service of the government 
was still to be observed long after the occasion had 
passed. It was only after the day's work, at his country 



Vlll 



PREFACE 



home with a friend on an autumn evening before a 
blazing fire, or when away on a vacation with mind in 
repose, that he would tell of his recollections and in his 
quiet, easy manner charm his listener for hours with 
anecdotes and incidents of his eventful life. Enough 
however, has, it is believed, been gathered together not 
only to indicate the road along which his success was 
achieved, but also to give a partial picture of a man of 
many deeds of charity, most of which will never be 
known to others than the recipients of his benevo- 
lence. Keeping in mind the quiet demeanor of Mr. 
Hartley, and feeling that anything concerning him be- 
yond a simple narrative of such incidents of his life as 
might best serve as a stimulus to others and as a source 
of interest to his personal friends, would be distasteful 
to him, the writer of this sketch of his life and work has 
endeavored to tell the story as simply as possible, in the 
hope that thereby the narrative may be found not only 
more characteristic of the man, but all the more fitting a 
tribute to his memory. 

The portraits in this volume represent Mr. Hartley 
at different periods. The frontispiece is from a photo- 
graph taken about 1896, usually regarded as his best 
picture. That opposite page 10, from an old daguerre- 
otype, represents Mr. Hartley as he appeared when a 
clerk at the age of twenty-one. That at page 56 shows 
him at about forty-five years. Facing pages 58 and 
64, are pictures of his home on Orange Mountain and 



PREFACE ix 

of himself on horseback. The last photograph ever 
taken of him is reproduced opposite page 70. 

Acknowledgments are due to the several friends of 
Mr. Hartley who have recalled to the mind of the writer 
many of the incidents he has recorded, to those who 
have kindly contributed letters and personal tributes, 
and to Professor William T. Brewster of Columbia Uni- 
versity for the reading of proofs. ^ 

Gramercy Park, 
April, 1903. 



CONTENTS 

Chapter Page 

I Birth, Parentage, and Ancestry .... i 

II Childhood and Education 6 

III Entry into Business lo 

IV The Beginning of a Career 17 

V Work for the Cause of the Union . . . 26 

VI Expansion of Business after the Civil War 50 

VII Home and Family Life 58 

viii Last Years 6^ 

IX Character 75 

Appendix. 

I Personal Tributes from Friends . . . .91 

II Resolutions and Minutes of Corporations . no 

III Editorial Comment 124 

IV Extracts from Mr. Hartley's Correspondence 130 



Birth, Parentage, and Ancestry 

MARCELLUS HARTLEY was the eldest son of 
Robert Milham Hartley and Catharine Munson 
of New York. He was born on the twenty-third of 
September, 1827, and received the baptismal name of 
Marcellus from a clergyman of the Dutch Church, an 
old friend and classmate of his father at Fairfield Acad- 
emy, where the elder Mr. Hartley had received a classi- 
cal education with a view to entering the ministry. 

Both Mr. Hartley and his wife were descended from 
ancestors of English origin and of distinguished service. 
Before the beginning of the sixteenth century the Hart- 
leys were a well-known family in Yorkshire and in sev- 
eral of the northern counties of England. The progeni- 
tor of the family from which Robert M. Hartley sprang 
was the Rev. David Hartley, born in 1674, a graduate 
of Lincoln College, Oxford, Vicar of Armley, in York, 
and a highly respected clergyman. Among his children 
was Dr. David Hartley (i 705-1 757), an eminent prac- 
titioner, but more famous as a philosopher and meta- 
physician. He was author of " Observations on Man," 
and it is from him that Coleridge obtained much philo- 
sophical guidance, and for whom he named his eldest son, 



2 A MEMOIR OF 

Hartley Coleridge. Of his wisdom the poet speaks in 
"Religious Musings": 

He of mortal kind 
Wisest, he first who marked the ideal tribes 
Up the fine fibres through the sentient brain. 

His son David, a statesman and member of Parliament 
for Kingston-on-Hull, was author of many works for the 
betterment of the human race. He was the first to in- 
troduce into Parliament a bill for the abolition of the 
slave-trade, and with Wilberforce followed up the attack 
until slavery was banished from the British Empire. 
He was, perhaps, more prominently known as a friend 
of the American colonies in their struggle for indepen- 
dence, and on the conclusion of the war was appointed by 
Lord North to sign the definitive treaty of peace by 
which the colonies became free and independent. Of 
him Mr. John T. Morse says, in his "Life of Benjamin 
Franklin," that he was " a man to whose memory Amer- 
icans ought to erect statues." 

Another son of the Rev. David Hartley, father of the 
philosopher, was James Hartley, from whom descended 
the subject of the present sketch. Robert, the son of 
James Hartley, was born in 1736, and removed from 
his home in Lancashire County to Cockermouth in 
Cumberland, noted as the birthplace of Wordsworth. 
Here he married Martha, daughter of Isaac Smithson, 
a member of the family from which also sprang James 



MARCELLUS HARTLEY 3 

Smithson, founder of the Smithsonian Institution at 
Washington. Among other issue of Robert Hartley was 
Isaac Hartley, a well-known manufacturer of Cocker- 
mouth. It is interesting to note that in early life Isaac 
Hartley was a schoolmate and companion of the poet 
Wordsworth, and, though not a poet by training, was a 
man of imaginative mind, deep sympathy, and devout- 
ness and simplicity of life. In 1787 he married Isabella 
Johnson. Ten years later, wishing to extend his busi- 
ness, he emigrated to America, and in 1 799 sent for his 
wife and four children. The family settled in Schenec- 
tady, New York, and in 1806 Isaac Hartley bought a 
farm a few miles beyond, at Perth, Fulton County, New 
York, where he lived till his death, October 6, 185 1. 

Among his children was Robert Milham Hartley, 
born in 1796. After spending his boyhood and youth 
in the country, he removed, about 1822, to New York 
City, where, after a few years of commercial life, he 
began a career of philanthropy extending over fifty 
years. Of uncommonly religious nature, Robert M. 
Hartley's sympathy was at an early age aroused by 
the many forms of vice and suffering which he saw 
in the city; and in the New York Temperance Society, 
the New York Association for Improving the Condition 
of the Poor, of which he was a founder and for thirty- 
three years corresponding secretary, and in several 
other prominent charities still in active and successful 
operation, left a worthy name in the records of the his- 



4 A MEMOIR OF 

tory of philanthropy in New York. Perhaps his most 
important work was his "Essay on Milk," published 
in 1842, a vigorous and effective protest against the evil 
conditions under which that important article of food was 
produced and distributed. On many other topics of 
importance Mr. Hartley also published interesting and 
valuable tracts ; among them were inquiries into the 
labor question, the industrial education of women, the 
immigration question, and that of the education of 
children in the public schools. All his pamphlets were 
written from a common-sense and patriotic point of 
view; they are filled with plain, practical suggestions 
for the lessening of misery, and they glow with rational 
zeal for America as a land to live in. Taken as a 
whole, they exhibit a growing breadth and interest in 
the means by which the condition of humanity could, in 
plain and substantial ways, be improved, and they are the 
record of an active mind and broadening heart. It has 
been necessary to dwell for a moment on this aspect ot 
Mr. Hartley's charities, for the same qualities of growth 
and expansion and perseverance are, though in a dif- 
ferent direction, the most striking facts in the work of 
his son, Marcellus. 

In 1824 Robert M. Hartley married Miss Catharine 
Munson, the eldest daughter of the Hon. Reuben Mun- 
son of New York. The latter was an enterprising, 
broad-minded, public-spirited man. In 18 13 he was 
elected alderman, which post he held for ten successive 



MARCELLUS HARTLEY 5 

years, and later became a member of the Assembly. 
He was also among the founders of many institutions, 
such as the Bowery Savings Bank, the Tradesmen's 
National Bank, and was a supporter of several charity 
organizations. The family from which Mr. Munson 
sprang was of ancient origin; it had, according to 
"Burke's Peerage," a history extending over five cen- 
turies. Reuben Munson was a direct descendant of 
Thomas Munson, who came from England and settled 
in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1637. 

On both father's and mother's side, then, Marcellus 
Hartley was descended from ancient, pure, sturdy stock; 
his ancestors were all men of integrity and ability, and 
many of them were uncommonly distinguished for 
intellectual and moral gifts. If, therefore, Darwin's 
aphorism be true that "that genius which implies a 
wonderful, complete combination of high faculties tends 
to be inherited," it is evident that Mr. Hartley was 
destined to occupy an important place in life. 



II 

ChildJiood a7id Education 

DETAILS of Marcellus Hartley's youth, such as usu- 
ally give color and interest to the narrative of a 
life and show the early traits and molding influences of 
a character, are rather few. His boyhood was spent 
in New York. As a child he was not robust, and suf- 
fered greatly from headaches, but as he became older 
his health improved and he grew up after the manner of 
boys of his day. He enjoyed athletic sports, and ex- 
celled particularly in swimming and ball. In this con- 
nection, two or three incidents of his youth are inter- 
esting. One morning he went with his uncle to the 
wharf where some produce was unloading which the 
latter had shipped from his farm. It happened that 
the docks were wet and slippery, and Marcellus, in 
crossing from one boat to another, lost his footing and 
fell into the river. A minute or two elapsed before he 
was missed ; then he appeared swimming quietly after 
his cap, which was floating away from him. He 
was promptly hauled out, thoroughly wet, but none the 
worse for his mishap. On another occasion, while at 
school in Twenty-seventh Street, he went in swimming. 



MARCELLUS HARTLEY 7 

as was the custom of the boys during recess, and had 
the good fortune, at the peril of his own Hfe, to save 
a classmate that had ventured too far out in the river, 
had become exhausted, and was sinking for the last 
time. Marcellus swam bravely to his rescue, and seiz- 
ing him by the hair, dragged him safely to shore. 

Marcellus Hartley received all his systematic educa- 
tion in the schools of New York City. His longest 
attendance was at a classical academy occupying the 
principal floor of Military Hall, 193 Bowery, between 
Rivington and Delancey streets. Fifty years ago that 
part of the city was very reputable and was the home of 
many of our most respected and substantial citizens. 
The school was under the charge of Rev. Mr. Norton, a 
cultivated and eminently religious gentleman. Among 
those who attended the school were Howard Crosby, 
William E. Dodge, Isaac and Richard Ferris (sons of 
the old Chancellor of New York University), Peter 
Naylor, the Porters, Reuben Van Pelt, and two brothers 
of Marcellus Hartley. Mr. Norton taught them not 
only the rudimentary branches, but also Latin and Greek 
preparatory to a college course. He seems to have 
been an indulgrent master. 

After the retirement of Mr. Norton from his school, 
Marcellus Hartley attended a private grammar-school 
in the basement of the Methodist Church in Seventh 
Street, under the charge of Clough and Newman. On 
the discontinuance of that school, he went to Public 



8 A MEMOIR OF 

School No. 15, in Twenty-seventh Street, near Second 
Avenue, then practically in the country ; for neither 
Second Avenue nor the side streets above Twenty- 
eighth Street were opened, and beyond were green 
fields and rail fences. This institution stood first among 
the schools of the old Public School Society, and was 
under the direction of Anson G. Phelps, Peter Cooper, 
and James Stokes, one or the other of whom visited it 
almost daily. The association of these well-known 
philanthropists, its high reputation, and the respectable 
character of its scholars induced Mr. Hartley to place 
his sons there. The principal of the school was William 
A. Walker, a thorough and painstaking educator and a 
rigorous disciplinarian. His somewhat nervous tem- 
perament found vent in the frequent birching of his 
pupils. Marcellus Hartley won his regard and was 
among the few who escaped castigation. 

At these various schools Marcellus Hartley was 
known among teachers and fellow-students alike as 
an apt scholar. He always stood well in his class and 
was liked by his superiors. His memory was so good 
that he rarely forgot anything that he had read, a 
faculty which stood him in great service in his long 
business career. In mathematics and handwriting he 
excelled ; and to his diligence in these studies may be 
traced the terseness and neatness which in later years 
distinguished his letters. Few business men wrote a 
more beautiful hand, an accomplishment which, uncom- 



MARCELLUS HARTLEY 9 

mon as it is, he retained to the end of his days. Few- 
things, indeed, annoyed him more than to receive a 
wordy or a badly written letter. Unfortunately, as is 
too frequently the case with men afterwards eminent, 
not many of the letters of his youth are preserved. 

Marcellus did not pursue his studies systematically 
after he left Mr. Walker's school. This was in the year 
1844; then, at the age of seventeen, he entered his 
father's office as a clerk. 



Ill 

Entry into Business 
{1844-1854) 

MARCELLUS HARTLEY remained in his father's 
employ for three years, and there he obtained a 
rudimentary knowledge of business. He was ambitious, 
however, for a more rapid advancement than the outlook 
promised. Accordingly he sought and soon obtained 
a situation as entry clerk and assistant bookkeeper in 
the importing house of Francis Tomes and Sons, of 
Maiden Lane, dealers in fancy hardware and sporting 
goods. He entered upon his duties on February 8, 
1847. ^^s industry, quickness, and aptness for business 
enabled him to forge ahead, and he was transferred to 
the gun department, more congenial to his taste, a 
branch of business which in later years became the 
principal factor in his career. In addition, moreover, to 
duties in the office, he was sent during times when busi- 
ness was slack to solicit trade in the South and the West. 
These trips were of great service to him in broadening 
his views. He made the acquaintance of the firm's 
customers at their homes, and gained a wide knowledge 
both of the geography and of the business needs of the 
country. Traveling was in those days much more 
difficult than it is now, and many hardships fell to the 



AT TWENTY-ONE YEARS OF AGE 



1''' I' 'fT/.tli 



MARCELLUS HARTLEY ii 

lot of the itinerant tradesman. In one of his expedi- 
tions, for example, he had a narrow escape from death 
by drowning in Lake Erie. In a letter to a fellow- 
clerk, dated December 19, 1851, he gives the following 
description of his trials on land and water: 

I arrived in Buffalo Wednesday evening and left on Mon- 
day evening, and such a time as I had you have no idea of. I 
should not have stayed so long could I have got a good boat ; 
but, my dear fellow, with all my precaution, and though taking 
the best boat on the lake, I came nearer going to the bottom 
than ever before. Enclosed you will find an account of the 
total loss of the steamer Mayflower, with the list of passengers, 
who, thanks to a kind Providence, were all saved. 

Such a storm as we had beggars description. . . . Suffice 
it to say, I had given up all hope and was waiting patiently for 
the boat to founder. To give you an idea of the weather, the 
thermometer was fifteen degrees below zero, the wind blew a 
perfect hurricane, the sea went completely over the boat, the 
spray freezing as it rose in the air and so completely envelop- 
ing us that it was impossible to see twenty feet from the 
steamer. Food I never tasted for twenty-six hours, until we 
struck the shore, which occurred at eleven o'clock at night. . . . 
When we struck nobody knew where we were, nor did we 
much care, for then we never expected to reach land. But 
when morning came and we saw the shore some two hundred 
feet from us, — a high bleak coast with a ridge of ice eight feet 
high all along the shore, the sea running mountains high, — we 
had hopes of reaching it, and with the assistance of some per- 
sons from the shore we eventually sent a line, and once more 
safely reached terra firma. My baggage was wet and freezing, 
but that was of little account. We had to walk a mile through 
snow a foot deep and then ride twelve miles to the nearest 
staging, where I took passage for the first railroad station, 



12 A MEMOIR OF 

Painesville. When I tell you that I came near breaking my 
neck twice you will think I am unlucky. We were upset twice 
in the stage and went over a bank some six feet high, the last 
time being about four o'clock in the morning. Cold ! It was 
awfully cold, . . . We footed it through the snow some half 
mile to a farmer's house, who kindly gave us shelter and fire 
until morning. Sleep ! I had none since leaving Buffalo, three 
evenings before, until last night (Thursday), and but two meals 
in three days. Such, my dear friend, has been my fortune so 
far; and through it all I have come out, thanks to a kind 
Providence, with but a frozen foot, one finger frost-bitten, and 
with my phrenological bump of veneration raised considerable 
by the upsetting of the stage. 

Here I am in Cleveland with a comfortable, fine bed- 
room and a parlor, with my feet bound up, which will proba- 
bly keep me in the hotel for three or four days, with nothing 
to do but to read and write letters. . . . 

The journey before me is a tedious and uncomfortable 
one, far different from my summer experience. From here it 
is my intention to go to Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis, and down 
to Memphis. I am going as far as Montgomery or New 
Orleans ; probably I may visit both. It is now nearly twelve 
o'clock, and I am tired. The writing you will please excuse, as 
my fingers are somewhat frost-bitten. 

The follov^^ing extract from a letter is worthy of in- 
sertion, since it gives an idea of the sort of impression 
made upon Mr. Hartley's wide-awake intelligence by 
the Western cities and towns which he visited in his 

business trips : 

Chicago, June 15, 185 1. 
My dear Brother : 

I arrived in this place this morning, from Detroit. The 
last I wrote you was a few hurried lines from Buffalo. My 



MARCELLUS HARTLEY 13 

journey so far has been very agreeable : the trip through Lake 
Erie was beautiful. From Buffalo I went direct to Cleveland, 
where I remained for two days, heard the Reverend John 
Marsh of New York preach, and Gough make a speech. There 
is no city in this country that will compare to Cleveland. It 
would be the place precisely for Uncle Booth. I, however, 
became somewhat tired of it, having nobody to walk about 
with me. From Cleveland I went to Sandusky, and then to 
Toledo. The sail from place to place was beautiful, but the 
two last-mentioned places were very dull. At the entrance of 
the Maumee River there is a place called Manhattan, having 
a church, mill, and some thirty fine houses, three or four large 
warehouses, canal and wharves, etc., — in fact, the miniature of a 
young city, — but the population of that place numbers but one 
family. During the speculations of 1837, the land was in the 
hands of New York speculators, who laid it out into town lots, 
and sold them for $1000 to $5000 a lot, built houses, estab- 
lished a bank, extended the canal, intending it should be the 
city of the West ; but now all that remains of its former activ- 
ity are its vacant houses and its grass-growing streets, a warn- 
ing to all land speculators. Toledo, a few miles beyond it, is 
a thriving place and will eventually become a city of celebrity. 
All through that portion of Ohio known as the " Reserve 
lands " there have been towns and cities laid out, and if you 
will look upon the map you will see Independence, Napoleon, 
etc., printed in large letters, as if they were places with some 
thousands of inhabitants, but you might ride through them a 
dozen times and fail to discover them, for they contain but 
some half dozen or more houses. On the route from Toledo 
to Detroit there is another place of that description called 
Munroe in Michigan. It is some three miles from the lake, on 
the Raisin River. They went to the enormous expense of 
making a ship-canal to the lake, have a railroad, etc., but the 
place now it would trouble you to find. I arrived at Detroit 
last Thursday night, and remained there until Saturday morn- 



14 A MEMOIR OF 

ing. I was very much pleased with it ; you know it is an old 
settlement, and the houses, and the appearance of things gen- 
erally, put one in mind of the Eastern cities. In most of the 
cities that I have visited West the houses are chiefly frame — 
that is, wood. Now in Detroit they have commenced the use 
of brick, so also here in Chicago. You have no idea of the 
Western country. You might be in Chicago, or any of these 
Western cities and towns, and think you were in the State of 
New York. A man with money, or a go-ahead Eastern man, 
could soon become a millionaire. I find that my time will not 
allow me to go to Milwaukee and further West, as I intended, 
but shall go from here through Illinois to St. Louis. 

Mr. Hartley's perils were not all of the deep, nor 
were his experiences confined to his travels. He often 
related the exciting scene he witnessed at the Astor 
Place Riots in the spring of 1850, and the danger he 
was in. When Macready, the English actor, was play- 
ing Macbeth in New York, a gang of turbulent fellows 
known as the " Bowery boys " determined to take ven- 
geance upon him for an alleged insult which the Ameri- 
can tragedian, Edwin Eorrest, had received in England 
the year before. Repelled in an attempt to invade the 
opera-house, they turned on the police who opposed 
them, assaulted them with sticks and stones, and seri- 
ously wounded many. Getting the better of the police, 
they next attacked the Seventh Regiment, which had 
been hastily summoned, and handled it so roughly that 
the soldiers, as a last resort, were obliged to use their 
guns. When the street was cleared some twenty rioters 
and several spectators were killed, fifty were seriously 



MARCELLUS HARTLEY 15 

wounded, and a hundred and fifty officers and men were 
more or less badly hurt. The beginning of the fray 
Mr. Hartley saw from a lamp-post, but when the firing 
began dropped to the ground. How he escaped with- 
out a scratch was a source of wonder to his friends. 

In addition to his business, Mr. Hartley was alive in 
other ways. When, in 1850, the Hungarian patriot 
Kossuth visited this country, Mr. Hartley was much in- 
terested in him as a man and an orator, and became a 
deep sympathizer with the wrongs which his country 
suffered. He also joined a society, the object of which, 
as given in its ambitious constitution, " was the discus- 
sion of literary subjects and the promotion of literature, 
science, and friendship among its members." The club 
had a properly fitted room where the members could 
go at any time, and where every fortnight they held 
evening sessions for debate on popular subjects of the 
day. Most of the members afterwards became well- 
known and highly respected citizens, but of the little 
coterie of kindred spirits only eight are living. After a 
lapse of so many years no apology need be made for 
mentioning their names ; for, should they happen to see 
this allusion to them, it will recall the old "Philosophian" 
and awaken a thrill of joy for those happy days of their 
youth when 

Hope grew round me like the twining vine, 

And fruits and flowers not my own, seemed mine. 

Their names are Edward M. Townsend, David S. 



i6 MARCELLUS HARTLEY 

Egleston, Abraham R. Lawrence, Henry L. Pierson, 
Joseph W. Hartley, Hewlet Scudder, Robert Beloni, 
and George Fuller. 

Mr. Hartley, of course, had his days of discourage- 
ment. He, however, seems never seriously to have con- 
sidered any change of occupation, but, in order to work 
to the best advantage, he left the firm of Francis Tomes 
and Sons, in 1854, and entered business for himself. 



IV 

The Beginning of a Career 
{1854-1862) 

THOUGH it was a bold undertaking for a young 
man without means or influential friends to enter 
business for himself, Mr. Hartley was moved to that act 
by several reasons. During his service as clerk he 
had, in upwards of seven years, mastered all the details 
of the department — that of sporting guns — of which he 
was in charge. Having obtained all the knowledge of 
the business that he could, and believing from the con- 
ditions which he saw about him that there was no oppor- 
tunity of his ever becoming a partner, he perceived the 
uselessness of his remaining longer in his position. 

Accordingly, his first step was to find men of similar 
disposition. These he met in J. Rutsen Schuyler and 
Malcolm Graham, who were in the firm of Smith, Young 
and Company, of which Mr. Schuyler was junior partner ; 
they were engaged in the same line of business as Fran- 
cis Tomes and Sons. One day the three met at the 
famous hostelry kept by Clark and Brown in Maiden 
Lane, near its junction with Liberty Street. Here the 
young men discussed the feasibility of establishing a 
new business firm of the same sort as that of their em- 

17 



i8 A MEMOIR OF 

ployers, and, concluding that it was possible, immedi- 
ately entered into the details. Since the three partners 
were without much money, they were obliged to bor- 
row a large part of their capital. With this, the firm 
was organized on March i, 1854, under the name of 
Schuyler, Hartley, and Graham, and took the ground 
floor of 13 Maiden Lane, nearly opposite the parent 
firms. Mr. Hartley's part in the business, owing to 
his long experience in buying and selling goods away 
from home, consisted chiefly in the purchase of a varied 
stock in trade, especially sporting guns and small arms 
abroad, and in trips West for the purpose of creating a 
market for his wares. 

Almost as soon as the firm was fully organized, Mr. 
Schuyler and Mr. Hartley, fortified with a letter of credit 
on Brown, Shipley, and Company, of London, started for 
Europe to purchase a supply of goods for the new store, 
leaving Mr. Graham to look after their interests at 
home. They took passage on the fourth of March, 
1854, in the steamer Baltic. They visited all the im- 
portant dealers and manufacturers in their line of busi- 
ness, both in England and on the Continent, bought 
the newest goods, and made arrangements for future 
supplies as they might be required. They remained 
abroad about four months. The goods which they 
shipped from Europe and brought with them they had 
no difficulty in selling at a large profit. The success of 
the firm was assured. 

During the winter following, Mr. Hartley made a busi- 



MARCELLUS HARTLEY 19 

ness trip West, and thereby considerably enlarged the 
amount of the firm's undertakings. The following year, 
in April, Mr. Hartley again went to England and the 
Continent for fresh goods, and his trip was repeated in 
1856 and 1857 with unfailing success. He established 
close relations with the leading firms in Europe, and 
acquired knowledge about the manufacture and sale of 
arms which enabled him to render notable service to the 
United States Government during the Civil War. 

On his return from his last trip in the autumn of 
1857, Mr. Hartley found the country convulsed by the 
severest financial panic it had ever experienced. New 
York, as the business center of the nation, was the first 
to feel the effects of the storm, which, however, extended 
rapidly and with devastating force over the whole 
country. In a calamity which produced no less than 
nine hundred and eighty-five business failures in the 
metropolis alone, with liabilities exceeding one hundred 
and twenty millions, which caused banks to suspend 
payment, and brought business to a standstill, Mr. Hart- 
ley's firm weathered the storm successfully. Indeed, in 
the following three years of 1858, 1859, and i860, during 
which Mr. Hartley remained in New York, the business 
of the firm increased in importance and extent from year to 
year, and became the largest of its kind in the country. 
Inasmuch as the increase was owing chiefly to the pur- 
chase and sale of arms, Mr. Hartley had to give a great 
deal of his time to that branch of the business, in which 
he was the specialist. 



20 A MEMOIR OF 

The operations of the firm were not, however, wholly 
confined to munitions of war. To show the adroitness 
with which its members seized opportunities, one or two 
incidents may be mentioned. On his third trip to Europe, 
Mr. Hartley, knowing the great demand that existed at 
that time for coral ornaments, bought up all the coral 
that he could find in the markets of southern Europe. 
The monopoly which his firm thus enjoyed during the 
great vogue of the article yielded large profits. At 
another time, when in Florence looking for suitable 
goods for his business, he was attracted by a window 
filled with copies of the old masters, and inquired the 
price of the most beautiful. Finding it too high, he was 
about to leave, but the dealer called him back and 
named a lower figure. This was still too high, nor did 
the dealer succeed in lowering his price enough to suit 
Mr. Hartley, who departed. Disappointed, the dealer 
followed Mr. Hartley to his hotel, but again Mr. Hartley 
declined to make any bid. With the pleasant persistence 
and love of driving a bargain characteristic of Italian 
shopkeepers, the man followed him to the next city and 
again sought to reopen the negotiations at a still lower 
figure. Finally Mr. Hartley asked the dealer how many 
pictures he had, and having ascertained the number, — 
it was a moderate-sized shopful, — the names of the 
various pictures, and the alleged painters, he suddenly 
asked the dealer how much he would take for the whole 
lot. The latter was at first amazed at the supposed 



MARCELLUS HARTLEY 21 

banter, but, assured of Mr. Hartley's sincerity, named 
prices about one quarter of those of the first interview. 
To the astonishment and possibly the consternation of 
the Italian, Mr. Hartley bought the entire stock. He 
had the pictures boxed, and, though they would have 
almost filled a small vessel, got them home safely in a 
few months. On his return he succeeded in selling his 
"old masters" to his customers West and South, at a 
large profit, without, however, representing them to be 
other than copies. 

A few words must be said regarding the more per- 
sonal life of Mr. Hartley. In the fall of 1855 he was 
married to Frances Chester White, second daughter of 
Dr. Samuel Pomeroy White and Caroline Mary Jenkins 
of New York. They were married by the Rev. Dr. 
William Adams of the Madison Square Presbyterian 
Church, where the families of both had long attended. 
Dr. White, the son of Dr. Samuel White, was in early 
life a physician at Hudson, New York; thence he re- 
moved to this city, where he continued successfully the 
practising of his profession. Mrs. Hartley's mother was 
a granddaughter of Seth Jenkins, first mayor of Hudson, 
who, with his brother, Thomas, was the founder of that 
city, and daughter of Robert Jenkins, who started the 
first cotton-mill in the State. The latter was for ten 
years the mayor of Hudson, and occupied other positions 
of honor and trust. 

Up to the time of his marriage, Mr. Hartley had 



22 A MEMOIR OF 

always lived with his father, and for a short time after 
his marriage he and his wife made their residence at the 
elder Mr. Hartley's house. It would, indeed, be impos- 
sible to exaggerate the reverence of the son for his 
parents and the affection of the parents for the son. 
"This day," wrote the father in the journal which he was 
accustomed throughout his life to keep — " this day, Mar- 
cellus, with his wife, has left his father's house, the only 
home he has ever known, for a permanent abode else- 
where. My heart has been touched by this separation. 
Oh! the instability of all earthly things! The nearest 
and dearest ties exist but to be broken. I have com- 
mended him to God, praying and trusting that we may 
all yet, in the covenant of His grace, be gathered around 
His throne, an unbroken family in heaven." 

When, in the spring of the following year, Mr. Hartley 
made his third trip to Europe, he took his wife with him. 
They visited the principal places of interest in England 
and on the Continent, and Mr. Hartley's personal letters 
of this period are longer and more varied than at any 
subsequent time of his life. Some of them reveal his 
character and his way of looking at things in so inter- 
esting a manner that it is well to quote a few lines. 
They are the impressions of a young American who 
went abroad in the early fifties, at a time when travel- 
ing was not so easy and when a trip to Europe was 
by no means so commonplace a thing as it is to-day. 
On July 22, 1855, in a letter to his sister, he gives 



MARCELLUS HARTLEY 23 

some interesting impressions of Cockermouth, the home 
of his ancestors, and of the neighboring region: 

My first impressions of Cockermouth you no doubt would 
like to hear. I must say that they were very unfavorable. It 
looked like some old, wornout city. . . . Cockermouth is situated 
on the south side of the river Derwent and at the mouth of 
the river Cocker. , . . The river, Hke all English rivers, 
is very small. The Derwent is about the size of Uncle 
John's creek, some places running deep, and others shallow 
enough to cross from stone to stone without wetting your feet. 
There are but three churches in the place, one Episcopal, Con- 
gregational, and Methodist; the old church was burned down 
some years ago, but now they have a very pretty stone one 
built in the shape of a cross. I attended service there this 
morning. 

To a stranger all that is interesting in Cockermouth is the 
castle and the house in which the poet Wordsworth was born. 
The country round about is beautiful, but the view from your 
gate, to my mind, is far more grand. At Cockermouth you 
begin to reach that portion of Cumberland which is considered 
the classic ground of England. Keswick is only twelve miles 
from here. I shall return by that route, passing through the 
finest portion of England, and, if I am to believe the poets and 
some English travelers, unsurpassed by any other place in the 
world, — of course the world so far as they had seen. I will not 
admit any such conception until I see it for myself, and then 
compare it with what I have seen in my own country. The 
poets of England should have visited America before they 
used the comprehensive word "world." 

I resume this letter from this place [Birmingham, July 26], 
but only have a few moments to write. I left Cockermouth 
on Monday morning by stage to Keswick, and visited all places 
of interest — Windermere, Ambleside, Kendal, and Derwent. 
It was a most beautiful ride, a picture in comparison to our 



24 A MEMOIR OF 

wild and extensive rivers, lakes, and mountains, a lovely land- 
scape — everything so diminished in size that you have nature 
in miniature, as it were. 

In a letter written to his mother. May 19, 1856, from 

Trieste we read an interesting account of his impressions 

of Italy, particularly of Venice : 

Milan is a very pretty place, the neatest and cleanest city in 
Italy save Venice. The country through Tuscany, Sardinia, 
and Lombardy is a garden, and all it wants to make it a great 
and enterprising country is education and union among the 
different countries. Venice is a beautiful city, and novel. 
Instead of streets they have canals on which, you are aware, 
they use the famous gondolas. Fanny was charmed, and did 
not like to leave it. We could only spend Sunday there, as 
my time is precious and I ought to be in Paris. The weather 
for the last ten days previous to our arrival at Venice had been 
disagreeable, raining incessantly, but at Venice we had fine 
weather and everybody appeared to enjoy it. The canals, or 
streets, were alive with gondolas. Sunday with the Venetians 
is a holiday, and from our windows the sight was grand. Our 
hotel was on the Grand Canal, within sight of the Church of 
San Marco. The Rialto was in the distance. On the canal 
were hundreds of gondolas following a barge filled full of 
Austrian musicians, drawn by two gaily decked gondolas. It 
was about seven o'clock in the evening. All Venice had col- 
lected in their boats to take a ride and hear the music. We 
were not disturbed by the noise of horses and vehicles. It was 
as quiet as if you had been to sea in a calm. The sight was 
grand, yet it turned my thoughts to my own country, where 
we venerate the Sabbath. I thought that had the Venetians 
attended more to the observance of the Divine Laws, they, in 
common with the rest of Italy, would have more to boast of at 
the present day than the ruins and dilapidations of their city, 
once the pride of the world. 



MARCELLUS HARTLEY 25 

Mr. and Mrs. Hartley returned to America in the fall 
of the same year. These yearly visits to Europe marked 
the beginning of a career of uncommon activity and 
success, the first and most engaging episode of which 
will be treated in the next chapter. 



V 



Work for the Cause of the Union 
{1862-1864) 

THE period of the Civil War is probably the most 
interesting time of Mr. Hartley's life, but, unfor- 
tunately, the reticence which he maintained with regard 
to his work as special agent for the government during 
that struggle prevented him from speaking of his expe- 
riences. Consequently our information is somewhat 
meager ; what we know is chiefly from his business let- 
ters. We have seen how his firm weathered the financial 
crisis of 1857; in i860 another fierce money panic broke 
out, and the business of the country was paralyzed by 
the approaching danger of war. Again Mr. Hartley's 
firm withstood the shock successfully, and indeed, owing 
to the special nature of its business, — the selling of arms 
and munitions of war, — was enabled to make money. 

A brief explanation should be given of the conditions 
of the time. For some years back the South had been 
silently preparing for the coming conflict. The slavery 
men had got possession of all the arms and munitions 
of war that they could; and it is certain that the South 
at the beginning of 1861 was in a much better con- 
dition than was the North for a contest. Now, it was 
natural that in a time of such strong feeling and grow- 

26 



MARCELLUS HARTLEY 27 

ing bitterness, a firm like Mr. Hartley's, in part because 
undoubtedly making profit by the sale of arms, should 
suffer much embarrassment in doing business of that 
sort when the loyalty of almost every man, however 
patriotic, was more or less under suspicion. It hap- 
pened that the jealousy of competitors and of sym- 
pathizers with the South threw every possible obstacle 
in the way of the firm. Indeed, some rivals went so 
far as to cite the firm before the grand jury ; they 
charged it with the selling of goods to the South, and 
a cordon of police was placed before the store to 
watch each shipment of arms as it went out. Such 
an indignity to a respectable firm, every member of 
which was loyal to the core, Mr. Hartley met firmly 
and promptly. He went to the grand jury, taking with 
him the sale and shipping books of the firm for a year. 
These were carefully examined ; it was found not only 
that no sales had been made to the South, but that 
sales which bore suspicion of being intended for clandes- 
tine shipment had been cancelled and the goods given 
to western states about whose loyalty there could be no 
question. The charge was therefore dismissed and the 
firm commended for its uprightness. Subsequently it 
was ascertained that this act was inspired by the ene- 
mies of the government, who, in this manner, hoped 
to retard and embarrass the loyal states in obtaining 
arms for their troops. 

By the middle of 1861 it became apparent that the 



28 A MEMOIR OF 

war was to assume far larger proportions than had been 
dreamed of. The work of equipping an army of a mil- 
lion men, which Congress authorized in response to 
President Lincoln's message of July, was entirely beyond 
the experience of any men of modern times ; for, large 
as were the armies of Europe during the Napoleonic 
wars and former fierce conflicts, no single power ever 
called for so many troops to be marshaled in so short a 
time. One of the gravest problems which confronted 
the Secretary of War, Mr. Stanton, was the arming of 
this vast force of men. 

The difficulty lay in the fact that the arsenals had 
been denuded of their guns. The stock in the hands of 
the dealers was insufficient, and manufacturers, although 
driven to their utmost capacity, were unable to furnish 
a tithe of what were required. In this difficulty, Mr. 
Stanton called to his aid his friend, Robert Dale Owen, 
a man widely known as of practical sagacity, undoubted 
loyalty, and irreproachable integrity. Him Mr. Stanton 
commissioned to go to New York and there to confer 
with Governor Morgan as to the most reliable and com- 
petent person to be appointed as agent of the United 
States Government to purchase arms and munitions of 
war in Europe. 

The choice fell upon Mr. Hartley. With the approval 
of the Secretary of War, then personally unknown to 
him, and with the consent of President Lincoln, he was 
made agent with a rank equivalent to that of brigadier- 



MARCELLUS HARTLEY - 29 

general, and was given a large credit on Baring Brothers, 
the fiscal agents of the government. To Mr. Hartley the 
appointment came as a surprise, and, since his accept- 
ance would greatly harm his business interests, he might 
well have hesitated. As a member of a firm whose 
traffic was mainly directed to the buying and selling of 
arms, his time, experience, and ability were invaluable 
to it. If, however, there was one virtue in the character 
of Mr. Hartley more pronounced than another, it was 
his patriotism. His patriotism, indeed, was inborn. No 
sacrifice was too great for him to make when he could 
serve his country. He would permit no selfish consid- 
eration to come between him and the exercise of his 
loyalty. All was to be subordinated to the higher and 
nobler duty of service to his native land in the hour of 
her supreme peril. Accordingly, he accepted the flatter- 
ing but onerous position. 

Having settled business with his partners and ar- 
ranged his private affairs, he set out for Europe in July, 
1862, accompanied by his family, for what proved to 
be a stay of some months. He went directly to Bir- 
mingham, and took a house which he made the head- 
quarters for his operations. Little, however, did he 
realize the difficulties which would beset him in carrying 
out the object of his mission. His instructions were re- 
markably simple : he was not only to buy all available 
guns and munitions of war, but to prevent any falling into 
the hands of the Confederate Government. The carry- 



30 A MEMOIR OF 

ing out of the order was not so easy. His first great 
obstacle lay in the temper of the English people. He 
had thought that in England, at least, he should find the 
majority of men in sympathy with the North in a war 
waged for the integrity of the Union, whereas the 
South's avowed object was its destruction and the or- 
ganization of a government with slavery as its chief 
corner-stone. On the contrary, he found in England a 
wide-spread spirit of hostility; hence the difficulties in 
his way were very great. Another obstacle was the 
fact that arms were to be bought in all countries of 
Europe, and that Confederate agents were abroad in 
the land buying what they could for Confederate 
armies. He soon found, therefore, that his chief task 
was not merely the purchasing of arms for the United 
States Government, but also the circumventing of Con- 
federate agents and the overcoming, incidentally, of hos- 
tile public opinion in England. In all these respects 
Mr. Hartley was successful. A few letters and illustra- 
tions may be given to show the character of his work.^ 
Immediately after his arrival in England he wrote to the 
Secretary of War as follows : 

6 St. Mary's Row, 

Birmingham, August 2, 1862. 
Dear Sir: 

I arrived in Birmingham Saturday, July 26, and found that 
our agent had secured all the ready-made rifles at prices 
quoted by me, and the services of nearly all the manufac- 

1 Other characteristic letters are printed in the Appendix, pages 130-149. 



MARCELLUS HARTLEY 31 

turers. Nearly all the ready-made guns had been bought up 
by speculators immediately on receipt of the news of the want 
of 300,000 more men. The London market had been cleaned 
out by speculators for the China trade. In this market Hen- 
derson, an American, had made contracts with nearly all the 
manufacturers at low prices, and is now holding them to it, 
some 36/ to 40/, a loss in many instances to the manufacturers ; 
our agent succeeded in obtaining some from them at an ad- 
vanced price, but as they hope to complete contracts this 
week and we have secured them, and the arms go to New 
York, it is better that we should get him out the way. 

The Small Arms Company, a combination of manufacturers 
who produce about 3000 per week, have given the refusal of 
their "Combination" to a New York house with hopes of ob- 
taining a Government contract at $17. They expect to receive 
an answer by the mail now due, on receipt of which I hope to 
close a contract with them before my departure for the Con- 
tinent. I offered them 47/6, but as they were not in condition 
to close I withdrew my offer. 

In a week or so, when we get things under way and can 
obtain the control of the " Combination," I hope to send 4000 
to 5000 per week, and will swell the amount to 6000 and up- 
wards when under full headway. 

Our agent had secured, before my arrival, some 2000 ready 
at 45/ to 46/6. There were some 2000 more in the hands of 
speculators, for which they asked 60/ to 63/, which for the 
present we shall let them hold. 

Previous to the news of the want of additional troops, rifles 
were a drug, and manufacturers took contracts at a low price 
in order to work up the surplus material. The speculators 
took advantage of it and bound them down. Now when they 
have to give orders for materials prices advance, and the 
greater the pressure the higher the price, so we have to 
manage quietly, in order to get them under full headway with- 
out pressing the material makers too sharply. 

Where arms are contracted for and going to New York, I 



32 A MEMOIR OF 

have not interfered, as the sooner we get them out of the way 
the better, as I have secured the services of the manufacturers. 
It will not do to pay over $15 in New York; if it is done, it 
will have the effect of speculators obtaining arms from our 
manufacturers. I shall not for the present give over 50/ for 
arms, as the speculators are so combined together that they 
turn over their guns into one another's hands and thus man- 
age to obtain the highest price. 

Most of the arms made and on hand are 57.7 calibre, and are 
not of as good quality as I shall have when we get under way 
and shall make such changes as I can make them agree to, cor- 
responding to our Springfield. 

So far everything has worked most successfully for nearly 
the whole produce of this market, and it will take a little time 
to get it systematized and underway. I should much prefer to 
obtain the whole amount in this market of one kind of arms, 
with such as are ready made on the Continent, than to contract 
all over the Continent on time. 

I was at the London Armory Company on Wednesday, and 
they promised to give me an answer this morning how many 
they could furnish and the price, but they have failed to do so. 
I shall see them on Monday, as I pass through London on my 
way to Liege. 

My credit of ;^8o,ooo will soon be exhausted ; it will not pur- 
chase over 30,000 to 35,000 arms, and if I succeed in purchas- 
ing some in Liege, where I have the refusal of a lot, I shall not 
have more than enough to cover one month's purchases. Please 
lose no time in sending me an additional credit of at least 
;^ioo,ooo, say one hundred thousand pounds, same terms as 
before. Send by return steamer ; my house in New York will 
send it. 

The vessels from Liverpool are crowded with freight, so that 
goods have to be there some days before the arrival of a 
steamer, in order to secure their turn. I shall make a ship- 
ment next week. 



MARCELLUS HARTLEY 33 

Agreeably to instructions, I have detailed to you my first 
week's work, and shall continue to inform you of my progress, 
and hope that nothing will interfere to prevent me from realiz- 
ing my anticipations, say some 6000 per week. 
Yours respectfully, 

MARCELLUS Hartley. 
To Hon. E. M. Stanton, 
Secretary of War. 

The energy with which he threw himself into his busi- 
ness appears in the following two letters. The first 
expresses the magnitude of the undertaking; the second 
deals with his knowledge of the market and the means 
which he saw were necessary to prevent the govern- 
ment from becoming the prey of monopolies and specu- 
lators. Both are very practical and sagacious. 

6 St. Mary's Row, 

Birmingham, August 6, 1862. 
Hon. p. H. Watson. 
My dear Sir: 
By this mail I write a detailed account, and send the same to 
the Secretary of War. The Henderson who secured in the 
market at the low prices is the same man who operated for H. 
and A. last year. Everything thus far has worked splendidly, 
and I am only waiting for the Small Arms Company to learn 
by next mail that the contract they expect is among the things 
that might have occurred, to secure the entire product of this 
market. I have remained in the background, allowing our 
agent, Mr. Tomes, to secure the manufacturers. I have seen 
several who expect a friend from New York with large govern- 
ment contracts: Tomes, Barkalow, etc., are mentioned. You 
will please see that I have more credit at once. I do not want 



34 A MEMOIR OF 

to contract beyond the ^80,000, as I shall then be held per- 
sonally responsible, which of course is no risk, yet under the 
circumstances the government should cover me promptly. I 
am at work in earnest ; it is a laborious job. I shall leave our 
agent to take care of things until I obtain what are ready made 
on the Continent. I have the refusal of some 2000 in Liege. 

I enclose two slips cut from the Birmingham "Daily Post" 
and the London "Times," about shipping munitions of war to 
Southern States. The steamer Memphis is now loading at 
Liverpool with munitions of war for Nassau, or some adjacent 
port convenient to some Southern port; as nearly as I can 
find out, she has about 3000 rifles on board. 

I shall do my utmost to send all arm.s at once, without delay. 
I think I shall be able to obtain all in this market at prices vary- 
ing from 45/ to 50/, unless orders from some Continental power 
make them advance, and in that case we may have to allow a 
little even with those with whom we have contracts made, for 
the manufacturers are a slippery set. 

Respectfully yours, 

Marcellus Hartley. 



47 Hampton Street, 

Birmingham, November 29, 1862. 
Capt. S. Crispin. 
My dear Sir: 
. . . The effect of advancing guns on your side was the 
advancing here. I was a little mortified to find it had been 
done. You did not obtain one more gun for it. It enabled 
the purchasers to go right over me, and I did not understand 
it until I had written to New York about it. The policy should 
have been to act in unison with me. You should have notified 
me that on such a day you intended to put the price at $14.50 



MARCELLUS HARTLEY 35 

or stop buying. The importers would have at once telegraphed 
or written. Send no more guns except at a very low price, or 
send no more at all. I should have been indifferent about buy- 
ing for a few days, but would finally conclude to buy on specu- 
lation, provided they would sell at, say, 42/ ; and I would agree 
to take all they had made and under way at that price, with the 
positive understanding, binding in writing, that they would 
agree to furnish me all they could make for one, two, or three 
months, as the case might be, at the same price. They would 
have jumped at it. Do you know that prior to my arrival the 
Small Arms Company offered 15,000 Enfields at 45/, and had 
it not been for the contract made with them through Naylor at 
Washington I could have purchased them at that price ? Parties 
complained at Washington that I was advancing the price of 
Enfields. The fact was that they at Washington were doing 
that very thing, and those who had any to sell, of course, said 
it was I, When I say "you," in referring to the purchase above, 
I refer to the "powers that are." They should have left you 
and me to manage this thing. 

When Mr. Inman shut down on carrying munitions of war 
by his vessels, all the shippers and buyers stopped, and not 
being in a position myself to go on very freely, I slackened up ; 
the consequence was that in one week guns went to 42/, and 
even lower here. I purchased some yesterday at 42/. Hen- 
derson purchased some as low as 38/, but they are very in- 
ferior. That shows who keeps the price up. The Small Arms 
Company have been in the market buying at 42/ to 48/ to 
send to New York. They will make a good thing out of it. 
This company have managed their affairs very nicely. They 
have informed the department in Washington that all arms 
not made by them, or that do not come through them, are the 
" rejects." They have advanced the price of materials and 
stocking, occasioned by the increased price given to Naylor, 
and, of course, how can I buy for less than 50/ if they have 
managed things so as to cut off the outside manufacturers from 



36 A MEMOIR OF 

buying by advancing the price? They are up to all manner 
of tricks, and I hope you will exert your influence in order 
that Naylor may not get another contract. When I came here 
I went to London to see what I could do with the wealthy 
manufacturers, and Swinburne, the manager of the Small Arms 
Company, telegraphed to London, asking the refusal of all 
their arms at 60/ for one week. He telegraphed to four par- 
ties. They, understanding his tricks, showed me the tele- 
grams, knowing at once what his object has been and is. 

At the breaking out of our difficulties, when our Mr. Schuy- 
ler first went into the market, we had made purchases from our 
regular manufacturers at 45/. When the demand was urgent, 
and Crowninshield and Rowland and Aspinwall and our Mr. 
Schuyler were here, the Small Arms Company put the price at 
100/, and kept it at 80/ for months. They bought up all in 
the market, and did their utmost to drive all the manufacturers 
into their combination. Mr. Schuyler then started about thirty- 
five manufacturers outside of their combination. He put their 
price down, and from that time to this we have obtained more 
guns out of their combination than they have made in it, two- 
fold. I hope you will break it up and give them what they 
deserve. We have done our best to break it up, and had we 
not started the outsiders you would have been paying at least 
75/ to-day for every gun. 

I received a letter to-day from Mr. Schuyler telhng me to 
send the material to the firm. It is better, I think, to do so, as 
I have really no authority to purchase them. Yet still, they 
could have no objection. When you make a change try and 
inform me in time, if possible, that I may take advantage of it. 
I have written this very rapidly. I do not often write such 
long scrawls, but I hope you will be able to decipher it. 

With best wishes from 

Yours truly and sincerely, 

M. Hartley. 



MARCELLUS HARTLEY ^^ 

The mention of Mr, Inman in the foregoing letter 
brings up another interesting episode in Mr. Hartley's 
business arrangements. Toward the end of October 
the amount of arms of which he had gained control or 
had bought outright became so large that he thought of 
chartering a special steamer to ship them to America. 
Accordingly, he asked his bankers to make inquiries, in 
a covert manner, of Mr. Inman and other steamship 
owners to see if the affair could be carried through. 
Meanwhile he wrote to all his agents on the Continent, 
bidding them hold in readiness for instant shipment all 
the arms they had on hand or could collect. The 
amount of his planning and correspondence over the 
affair was very large and the details intricate. For 
some reason, possibly that hinted at in the foregoing 
letters, the project was never realized, and Mr. Hart- 
ley continued to send guns to America by the usual 
method. 

The following extract from a letter to Mr. Stanton, 
dated from Birmingham, August 30, 1862, illustrates 
another sort of difficulty with which he had to contend, 
and is an example of the soundness of his views : 

The Small Arms Company referred to in my letters several 
times I am led to believe have been deceiving us. They are 
sending arms South, not direct, but they have made a contract 
with some party. They have been doing it somewhat pre- 
vious to my arrival. They have also been sending some to 
parties North under contract ; but the bulk of what they make, 
say 2000 at least per week, are going to Liverpool to be sent 



38 A MEMOIR OF 

to Nassau. I would respectfully suggest the increasing of our 
force in that vicinity. The secretary of the company assured 
me last week that he would be able to sell me arms in a week, 
and in a month the product of his factory, and, in answer to 
my inquiry " that I hoped he was sending his arms North," re- 
pHed, "Yes, all," but I have learned since that he told what was 
not so. I shall not, from present appearances, obtain over 
70,000 Enfield rifles by the 1st of November. If it is your de- 
sire to extend the time and increase the number over 100,000, 
please let me know as soon as possible. If we relinquish our 
manufacturers, it will be difficult to obtain them again ; or if 
they do not take other contracts, when my engagements with 
them cease, it will take some time to get them under way, if 
we relinquish and then go on. Some are now enquiring that 
they may get their stock ready. I have always advocated the 
policy of the United States Government taking the whole Eng- 
lish Enfield market from the beginning of this war. First, they 
are the best guns. Secondly, we should have kept them from 
the South. It is not too late now. It would be money well 
invested. There is no other market for the South for good 
arms. All the Continental manufacturers are full of govern- 
ment orders, and as this is the only market they — the South — 
have, I respectfully suggest that it would be the policy of our 
government to so secure the good arms that we may have 
them, and that we should keep them from the South, at least 
for some little time. It would not take much money, but it 
would be well expended. You will pardon me for referring 
to this matter, but I have thought it of sufficient importance to 
call your attention to it. 

From England Mr. Hartley went to the Continent, 
where, during September and October, he spent three 
or four weeks in visiting the chief manufacturing cities 
in order to lay hold of the supply of arms. As we know 



MARCELLUS HARTLEY 39 

from the last extract, he virtually controlled the output 
on the Continent, and his letters to Secretary Stanton 
are replete with the details of his purchases in Berlin, 
Cologne, Paris, and other cities. The following is an 
interesting episode of his work. 

While Mr. Hartley was in Birmingham, he learned 
that the agents of the Confederate Government had 
made a contract with some gun manufacturers on the 
Continent for several thousand rifles. He was deter- 
mined to prevent the delivery of these arms. With little 
to guide him but a general knowledge of the various 
Continental manufacturers, he immediately started out 
to discover the sellers. At Vienna, Frankfort, and 
Budapest he was disappointed ; but finally, at Liege, he 
found, to his joy, the object of his search. Without 
making his position known, he interviewed the firm, and 
in the course of a general conversation learned the facts 
of the case and all the necessary particulars. Then, 
disclosing his position as the agent of the United States, 
he offered to buy the rifles at a small advance over the 
price for which they had been sold to the agents of the 
South, and to pay for them on bill-of-lading by drafts on 
his London bankers. 

The unscrupulous manufacturers accepted his offer and 
the arms were turned over to the North. But Mr. 
Hartley's work was not done. A firm which, for a little 
more gain, would prove false to a contract made in good 
faith, was not to be trusted. So Mr. Hartley remained in 



40 A MEMOIR OF 

Liege long enough to see the arms safely shipped. When, 
however, the time came for the payment for the goods, 
Mr. Hartley found himself in some embarrassment. In 
his anxiety to prevent the guns from falling into the 
hands of the Confederates, he had agreed to pay cash 
for them by drafts on his bankers, though knowing that 
they were not in funds. Hastening to London, he at 
once saw his bankers and explained to them what he had 
done, and sent word to the Secretary of War, who im- 
mediately authorized the payment of the drafts. Mr. 
Hartley then returned to Liege, and settled matters with 
the manufacturers. 

The effect of such work as this is illustrated by the 
following story. At a dinner given by Mr. Charles R. 
Flint, a close friend of Mr. Hartley's, to a London banker, 
Mr. John Dennistown, Mr. Hartley and a Mr. Trenholm 
were present. This Mr. Trenholm had been, during the 
Civil War, a resident agent in Europe of the Confeder- 
ate Government, and at the close of the war had come 
North. At the dinner he made a speech. After alluding 
to the kindness and courtesy he had received from the 
people of the North during his residence among them, 
and paying tribute to their shrewdness and enterprise, 
he gave a graphic description of the difficulty he had 
experienced in obtaining arms in Europe for the Con- 
federate Government. Among other things, he said that 
at times he was on the point of securing all that he re- 
quired, but through some unknown agency, which he 



MARCELLUS HARTLEY 41 

had never been able to discover, his efforts had been 
constantly frustrated. He then told the very incident 
which has just been related. Mr. Flint, who had heard 
Mr. Hartley relate the story, drew from Mr. Trenholm, 
in the course of his remarks that followed, more of the 
details of the affair, and having obtained all the facts, re- 
marked that the gentleman to whom Mr. Trenholm al- 
luded was one of his guests at the table. Mr. Hartley, 
as much astonished as Mr. Trenholm at the outcome of 
the matter, arose, acknowledged the fact, and for the first 
time explained to Mr. Trenholm and the guests exactly 
what he had done. Thus Mr. Hartley, amid much en- 
thusiasm and to his surprise, became the hero of the 
hour. 

Although Mr. Hartley's time and thought were chiefly 
employed in buying arms and munitions of war for the 
equipment of the army, he lost no opportunity, as has 
been said, for strengthening the moral side of the cause 
of the North, and endeavoring to make the British peo- 
ple more sympathetic to that cause. It will be well, at 
this point, to quote from a letter which he wrote to his 
brother in the fall of 1862, from London, since this letter 
explains something of the difficulty he had encountered 
not only in sending goods to market, but also in the at- 
titude of the English : 

I am in receipt of your two letters and would have written 
to you before but I have had but little time to devote to pri- 
vate correspondence. I have been here located with my family 



42 A MEMOIR OF 

for two weeks, occasionally running up to Birmingham. I am 
bothered with the shipping of my goods, and, to crown it all, 
Mr. Inman refuses to allow his vessels to load goods contra- 
band of war. But business I must not speak about. 

As a calm and distant observer of affairs in our country, I 
must say that the energy that has heretofore been character- 
istic of us as a nation now appears to me to lie dormant. Of 
course, none of us know what the leaders have to contend with, 
but it seems to me that we do not make headway. I am mor- 
tified to find that men who call themselves " loyal Americans " 
. . . are trying to throw obstacles in the way of the government, 
as if the government had not enough to contend with already ; 
that the great Democratic party, to whose auspices and adminis- 
tration we are indebted for the breaking out of this cursed re- 
bellion, . . . the great Democratic, party, made up of those 
who will not fight, and the disloyal people seeking shelter un- 
der the flag of the Union, is taking the opportunity to em- 
barrass the government, is raising false issues and perverting 
the truth, and is now endeavoring to ride into power. It 
makes me feel ashamed of my countrymen. Need I say that 
the English point to it and say that it is the result of demo- 
cratic institutions ; that they find more pleasure in it than in 
anything that has occurred ; and that they agree with rebel pa- 
pers in saying that the North will receive a heavier blow in the 
success of the Democracy than in any battle or event that has 
ever occurred? 

I console myself, however, in the belief that should these 
men obtain the power they are seeking, they will not be so 
base as to produce dissension, but, once in power and their ob- 
ject gained, they will support the government to a successful 
conclusion of this rebellion. 



What Mr. Hartley did in this second and self-imposed 
part of his mission was not only through his personal 



MARCELLUS HARTLEY 43 

intercourse with people, but also by printing and dis- 
tributing tracts to show the real issues which divided 
the South from the North; for it was about these things 
that the English had but a vague idea and were conse- 
quently most prejudiced. The following is an illustra- 
tion of what Mr. Hartley did. During his stay in Eng- 
land he had observed the strong support which John 
Bright, member of Parliament for Birmingham, had 
given to the cause of the North. Seeing in the paper 
one day that Mr. Bright would speak on American af- 
fairs, Mr. Hartley determined to attend the meeting. 
In an article published in the "New York Times Satur- 
day Review" on January 22, 1898, he thus gives an ac- 
count of the meeting : 

I was in Birmingham at the time, and seeing a notice of a 
meeting at the Town Hall, at which Mr. Bright was to speak 
on American affairs, I attended it. I was within a few feet of 
the platform, and the hall was crowded to overflowing. Mr. 
Bright commenced his speech by referring to matters in his 
own country, but after a while drifted to the American ques- 
tion and England's position. 

He soon showed how he was going to treat the subject ; that 
he was in favor of the North ; but before he had given full 
evidence of this there was an uproar seldom heard at a meeting, 
and he was not allowed to proceed. He stood his ground, 
however, until the disturbance had ceased, then started again, 
with the same result, but he was not to be put down. 

Standing silent, resting one hand on the table and the other 
in the breast of his coat, he gazed at the audience. After 
a while he was permitted to continue. 

Mr. Bright spoke for over an hour, I listened with wonder 



44 A MEMOIR OF 

and admiration to his eloquent and masterly presentation of the 
cause for which he pleaded. It seemed impossible to present 
the claims of the North more forcibly. When he had finished 
he had his audience with him, and they cheered with the same 
zest as they had previously hissed. If I am not mistaken, this 
was the first speech that he had made in England in favor of 
the North, and from that time forward public sentiment began 
to change. 

When I left the meeting that night I determined, if possible, 
to have the speech printed and distributed throughout Eng- 
land, so as to give it greater publicity and importance than it 
would receive at the hands of the press, which was generally 
hostile to the North. 

Mr. Bright was the guest of the Mayor of Birmingham, and 
the next morning I called on him at Edgebaston, reaching 
there early, and while they were at breakfast. I sent in my 
card, making it known that I was from New York. He arose 
from the breakfast-table and came to me, inviting me to break- 
fast. 

I had already breakfasted and thanked him for his kindness. 
I told him that I had listened to his speech the night before, 
probably being the only American in the hall, and had come 
to express my gratitude and to beg that he allow me to have 
it printed. After some hesitation, he consented to do so, pro- 
vided I would let him correct a copy. He sent me the speech, 
and I had ten thousand copies struck oflf and distributed 
throughout England, where I thought they would do most 
good. Afterwards I had five thousand more printed, and took 
some of them myself to Paris and had a copy placed under the 
plate of every American at the Hotel du Louvre, who were 
mostly from the South. 

Thus was the grand, exhaustive speech of John Bright scat- 
tered over Great Britain and among the enemies of the North 
domiciled in Paris. I have never doubted that it contributed 
largely to enlighten the British public as to the real issues of 



MARCELLUS HARTLEY 45 

the war, and in which direction their interest lay. The North, 
indeed the entire American people, owe a debt of gratitude 
to the memory of John Bright which it should never permit 
to perish. 

With Mr. Bright, Indeed, Mr. Hartley remained on 
friendly terms. The two were in complete accord re- 
garding the Rebellion, and Mr. Hartley on more than 
one occasion thanked the Englishman for his services in 
helping the cause of the North in the mother country. 
In a letter of May 5, 1863, to Mr. Bright, he said, 
among other things : 

The people are firm in the determination of putting this re- 
bellion down, and you may, my dear sir, be as positive, and 
speak as plainly as you can express yourself, that this cursed 
rebellion will be cruslied, and with it slavery. 

I enclose a few articles, cut from different papers, in reply to 
the articles of the London "Times" about the letter of our Min- 
ister, Mr. Adams. When in Europe one would judge, from 
reading some of the English journals, that the people here 
were anxious for a quarrel with England. I find nothing of 
the sort except from some of our imported citizens. The 
masses here still cherish for England — or rather for the intel- 
Hgent middle classes of England — that respect and friendship 
that has always existed, and I found the same attitude in Eng- 
land towards the intelHgent American. 

I send you by this mail a copy of the " New York Times " 
containing an account of the movement of General Hooker. 
He has commenced well, and we hope he will be able to follow 
it up. 

In April, 1863, Mr. Hartley, having accomplished the 
object of his mission, returned to New York. He had 



46 A MEMOIR OF 

been away upwards of nine months, and during that 
time had purchased over two hundred thousand stand 
of arms and other equipments by which the Northern 
army was substantially supplied, had obtained the option 
from manufacturers of many thousands more, and had, 
in several instances, thwarted the South in their efforts 
to obtain aid in similar directions. He had also done 
much to enlio-hten the British nation as to the real issues 
of the war and to change popular sentiment. Though, 
of course, his task had been a difficult one, he had his 
reward not only in the satisfactory accomplishment of 
his mission, but in the hearty thanks of the War De- 
partment, and in the knowledge that he had done his 
country substantial service. Incidentally, it may be said 
that when he presented to the Secretary of War a state- 
ment of his accounts, involving the expenditure of many 
millions of dollars, he was complimented by the Secre- 
tary in that they were the most complete and business- 
like of all that had come before him during his admin- 
istration, and were a model accounting of fiduciary 
responsibility. The following letter, written some 
months before his return, gives the best notion of the 
magnitude and the variety of his services : 

Birmingham, December 24, 1862. 
Dear Sir : 

I am busy closing my books for a balance and arranging the 
vouchers, numbering them so as they will be readily checked. 
As I have said before, I have not had sufficient force in the 



MARCELLUS HARTLEY 47 

office, being afraid to bring any outside person in for fear of 
collusion with the manufacturers, and for fear of information 
being carried outside. We have done a large business, the 
largest probably done within the same time by any firm in 
Birmingham. The only assistance I have had is Mr. Tomes 
and a younger brother of mine, a clergyman whom I sent for 
that I might have some one to rely on in an emergency. I 
have endeavored to manage things as economically as possible 
and think you will agree with me when you see my expense 
account. 

Of the ;£"5 80,000 to my credit, I have drawn about ;^490,ooo, 
leaving a balance of, say, ;^90,ooo not used. The delay of the 
Hanmi07iia, owing to an accident, prevented us from obtaining 
the charges until the 22d, and the fact that 390 cases Enfields, 
having been shut out, will have to go by the New York to-day 
from Southampton, again delays us. I had made arrangements 
some three weeks since to send the 69's from Antwerp with 
direct bill-of-lading, in case I could not dispose of them by the 
steamer of the 24th (to-day), for if shipped before it would have 
thrown out just so many cases of Enfields, the charges of which 
I had so as to close my accounts in time for the steamer of the 
20th, but the fact is, that there is a great deal of work in balan- 
cing the books. But one pair of hands and one head can work 
at it. Monday we discovered an error of ^288 in our favor, 
which Barings paid. I shall not lose an hour in sending them. 

My object in writing now is to call your attention to the 
enclosed slips cut from the " Post," thinking they may be of 
service to some one. 

I have not had a very agreeable task among these English- 
men. When I have had the time, and the persons warranted 
me in taking pains to represent our affairs at home in their 
true light, I have never failed to accomplish my object. 

I heard Mr. Bright deliver his famous speech last Thursday 
night. I was so pleased with it that I called next morning at 
the Mayor's house to thank him, as an American, for his eflfort. 



48 A MEMOIR OF 

He received me very cordially. I desired him to allow me to 
have it printed in pamphlet form. Yesterday I received a 
letter from him, accompanied with his speech, corrected ready 
for the printer. I have put it in the hands of the printer, 
ordering one thousand to start on. This is a personal invest- 
ment. I have seen so much ignorance about our affairs and 
so much animosity, that I thought I might serve our common 
cause by doing something toward removing it. The efTect of 
his speech shows itself already in the tone of the articles 
appearing in some of the public journals on American afiFairs. 
The paper from which the enclosed was cut has misrepresented 
us continually. In acknowledging the receipt of Mr. Bright's 
letter to-day, I wrote him that I hoped he would not remain 
silent so long again. 

It is my intention to send my accounts, accompanied with 
vouchers, to the firm in New York, they to present them to 
the department. 

My wife and family are in Paris. I intend to join them and 
recruit my impaired health for a time. 
I remain, dear sir. 

Yours very truly, 

Marcellus Hartley. 

P. H. Watson, Esq. 



Mr. Hartley's patriotic services did not end here. In 
the spring of 1864, the Metropolitan Fair was held in 
New York for the purpose of raising funds for the benefit 
of the wounded and sick in the army and their families 
at home. In aid of this object he had several thousand 
copies of the ** Philanthropic Results of the War," which 
he had prepared on his return from Europe, for gratu- 
itous circulation, bound and presented to the Fair as his 



MARCELLUS HARTLEY 49 

contribution. This small book of one hundred and sixty 
pages is a clear and glowing account of the origin and 
work of the Sanitary and Christian Commissions and of 
the various other ways in which patriotic men and 
women furthered the cause of freedom and alleviated 
the misery brought to soldier and civilian alike by the 
magnitude of the struggle. The orderly and systematic 
account of the amount of money, over $212,000,000, 
raised by state and private charity in this honorable 
service is characteristic of Mr. Hartley, but not more so 
than the tales of self-sacrifice and devotion with which 
the volume teems, nor than the generous and hopeful 
spirit of patriotism which animates the whole. Not only 
did the book net several thousand dollars to the income 
of the Fair, but Mr. Hartley sent hundreds of copies to 
similar fairs in other parts of the country. Several went 
to England. " I should like it," he said in a letter to 
Mr. Bright of April 13, 1864, "if the facts in the little 
book were given to the English people. It would be of 
interest to them, and would show that we were more like 
the English in spirit than they give us credit for." 

Shortly after his return from Europe, Mr. Hartley re- 
sumed his old position in the firm of Schuyler, Hartley, 
and Graham. He found the business largely extended 
and very prosperous. Aided by his experience it in- 
creased in the next few years to even larger proportions. 
But the history of that increase is important enough to 
be treated in a separate chapter. 



VI 



Expansion of Business after the Civil War 
{1864-1888) 

THE Civil War had given Mr. Hartley exceptional 
opportunities to become acquainted with the manu- 
facture of arms and ammunition all over the world. This 
experience was of inestimable value to him in succeed- 
ing years. Furthermore, his firm had been prosperous 
during the period, and the stimulus which the war gave 
to inventions and improvements in the manufacture of 
arms enabled him to employ his accumulated capital to 
great advantage. During the years that followed he 
acquired much wealth, but it was gained in a solid and 
steady way; for his fortunes were based entirely upon 
industrial success, and his enterprises were mainly the 
creation of his sagacity and sound judgment. Indeed 
his business career from beginning to end was an ex- 
ample of the conception, the building up, and the constant 
watching of substantial industries which gave to thou- 
sands of people regular employment, and made many 
families prosperous and successful. This expansion of 
his business has four main aspects. 

The first of these was the opportunity afforded by the 
invention of the breech-loading rifle. Breech-loading 

50 



MARCELLUS HARTLEY 51 

rifles had been used early in the century, but until within 
a few years before the outbreak of the Civil War without 
much success. The men in America to do most for the 
perfecting of these arms were perhaps the Remingtons, 
from whose works in the town of Ilion, New York, were 
turned out during the Civil War and in after years many 
rifles bearing the famous name. With the introduction 
of the breech-loading rifle arose the question of ammu- 
nition, and it was in the perfecting, not so much of the 
idea of the weapon, as of the facility, speed, regularity, 
and uniformity of production, that Mr. Hartley saw his 
first great opportunity to establish an excellent business. 
"There is no country," he wrote to Anson Burlingame, 
February 8, 1866, "that can compete with us in breech- 
loading arms. It is now the universally acknowledged 
principle. This you know, and if they [the Chinese] are 
to have arms, they should have the most approved." 
Indeed, he had had the idea of suitable ammunition long 
in mind; it had come to him as early as the year 1855, 
while a clerk in the employ of Tomes. When on one 
of his trips to the West, a chance acquaintance, learning 
that Mr. Hartley was interested in guns, showed him a 
roughly made metallic shell in which the charge for a 
gun could be inclosed. Mr. Hartley at once perceived 
the value of the idea, but, without expressing more than 
an ordinary interest in it, asked his fellow-traveler to 
give him the shell. That souvenir led, some years later, 
to the establishment of the Union Metallic Cartridge 



52 A MEMOIR OF 

Company, the most successful and profitable of the 
manufacturing interests in which Mr. Hartley was en- 
gaged. The idea both of the breech-loading rifle and 
of the metallic cartridge was, as has been said, an old 
one; Mr. Hartley's contribution to the art of warfare con- 
sisted of the effectual and economical manufacture, on a 
large scale, of the first successful metallic cartridge ever 
made and adopted, practically, throughout the world. 

Mr. Hartley could not put his idea into effect, how- 
ever, until after the close of the Civil War. That plan 
his work for the United States Government prevented, 
and, moreover, it was the war itself, and the increased 
demand for arms after it, that gave him the opportunity 
that he desired. Then, on investigation, he found that 
only a few factories in the East had attempted the manu- 
facture of metallic cartridges, but without success in any 
large or effectual way. Discouraged, they had finally 
abandoned their work, and had offered their plants and 
patents for sale. Of these the Crittenden and Tibbals 
Manufacturing Company of South Coventry, Connecti- 
cut, and that of C. D. Leet of Springfield, Massachusetts, 
were bought by Mr. Hartley's firm. The firm had, 
previously, in September, 1865, purchased a large tract 
of land, at Bridgeport, for the site of a plant ; and on 
the ninth of August, 1867, incorporated the Union Me- 
tallic Cartridge Company under the laws of the State of 
Connecticut. The corporation consisted, in addition to 
Mr. Schuyler, Mr. Hartley, and Mr. Graham, of Mr. 



MARCELLUS HARTLEY 53 

Charles H. Pond, who was made the president of the 
company, and Mr. Robert J. White, who was chosen 
secretary and treasurer. 

For a time the firm manufactured cartridges, percus- 
sion-caps, and shot-guns, but soon gave up the manu- 
facture of the last. The first cartridges, though 
improvements on the existing models, were compara- 
tively crude. At the outset only rim-fire cartridges 
were made, but, on the coming in of the center-fire 
system, the company proceeded at once to manufacture 
these also. The improvements which the firm made in 
early forms of the cartridge were due chiefly to the 
ingenuity and mechanical skill of Mr. A. C. Hobbs, 
superintendent of the works until his death in 1891, 
and by his experiments excellent cartridges were made 
to meet the requirements of the various models of 
breech-loading rifles. The company also manufactured 
cartridges under the patents of Hiram Berdan and other 
successful inventors, and as a result received large 
orders from many of the European governments for 
suitable and effective ammunition. Consequently, the 
business increased very rapidly, until, from the little 
more than an acre of floor space originally required, there 
are to-day no less than ten acres devoted to the manu- 
facture of all kinds of fixed ammunition, from the small- 
est percussion-cap to large six-inch cases. For upward 
of twenty years the development of this business de- 
volved mainly upon Mr. Hartley, who, on the death of 



54 A MEMOIR OF 

his partners, Mr. Schuyler and Mr. Graham, bought 
their interests and continued at the head of the business 
until the time of his death. This was the greatest of all 
Mr. Hartley's enterprises. 

The second enterprise of Mr. Hartley during this 
period was the establishment in February, 1878, of the 
Bridgeport Gun Implement Company. Prior to that 
year appliances for sportsmen's use, such as rods, clean- 
ers, extractors, powder-measures, and reloading tools, 
had been made in this country only in small quantity. 
The varieties, too, were limited to the requirements of 
certain manufacturers of firearms, and consequently 
there was a considerable monopoly in the business. At 
that time, also, the sale of factory-loaded paper shot 
shells was a thing unknown, and the metal shells then 
used had to be recharged by sportsmen, as best they 
could, with a crude and clumsy yet expensive outfit im- 
ported from Europe. At this factory, Mr. Hartley, as in 
the case of rifles, entered upon the manufacture of a line 
of goods that came into use with the passing of the old 
muzzle-loading shot-gun. The business rapidly in- 
creased, more buildings became necessary, and the firm 
manufactured articles not only in firearms and shells, 
but in general sporting goods as well. 

Closely connected with the Bridgeport Gun Imple- 
ment Company was Mr. Hartley's interest in electricity, 
which was then becoming known as an illuminant and 
source of power. Mr. Hartley was quick to foresee 



MARCELLUS HARTLEY 55 

its possibilities and predicted its success. Desiring, how- 
ever, to produce better apparatus than the dynamos 
then in use, and to make an incandescent lamp at once 
serviceable and cheap, he had a laboratory fitted up at 
the works in Bridgeport and employed Mr. Hiram 
Maxim, the well-known inventor, to experiment with 
dynamos and various forms of lamps, and the company 
itself took contracts for the manufacture of these com- 
modities. Mr. Maxim was successful in producing an 
economical article, but had been slightly outstripped 
in the race by Mr. Edison. Encouraged, however, by 
the success of the experiment, Mr. Hartley determined 
to pursue the business considerably further. Having 
secured the patents of Mr. Maxim, Mr. Farmer, Mr. 
Weston, and other inventors, he determined to establish 
in New York a company to manufacture electrical appa- 
ratus and to build plants for the transmission of power. 
The company was organized with a capital of $300,000, 
which was subsequently increased to $1,500,000. Sub- 
companies of the United States Electric Lighting Com- 
pany, as it was called, were also established in many 
of our large cities, and there seemed to be every pros- 
pect of success. The opposition, however, arising from 
the skepticism of the public, the jealousy of rich gas 
companies, the competition of rivals, the heavy expenses 
incident to the introduction of all new enterprises, 
and much costly litigation for the defending of its 
patents, combined to retard the progress of the com- 



56 A MEMOIR OF 

pany. Mr. Hartley, though confident of ultimate suc- 
cess, thought best to sell the whole concern to Mr. George 
Westinghouse, who had recently established the West- 
inghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company, and 
in this Mr. Hartley's company was merged. Mr. 
Hartley and his associates, however, retained their in- 
terest in the new corporation, and Mr. Hartley accepted 
the vice-presidency of it. The success of the company 
was phenomenal. Beyond this merely financial question, 
the success of Mr. Hartley's work meant the practical 
demonstration of the superiority of the so-called alternat- 
ing electric current system, which when first started by 
Mr. Hartley was bitterly opposed by other companies 
using the direct electric current system then in vogue. 

The fourth and last enterprise to which Mr. Hartley 
gave his chief attention was the Remington Arms Com- 
pany of Ilion, New York, of which mention has been 
made in the beginning of this chapter. During the Civil 
War, and at the time of the Franco-Prussian War, the 
Remington Arms Company had been exceedingly pros- 
perous, but in the comparatively peaceful times after 
those conflicts the diminution of their business compelled 
them to go into other forms of manufacture than that in 
which they had originally engaged. These enterprises 
had not been successful; in March, 1888, the plant was 
sold at auction by the receivers, in whose hands it had 
been for some years. Mr. Hartley, in connection with 
the Winchester Arms Company, bought the entire plant 



MARCELLUS HARTLEY 57 

and reorganized the company under the name of the 
Remington Arms Company. Later on his firm pur- 
chased the interest which the Winchester Repeating 
Arms Company had in the Remington Arms Company 
and became sole owners. On the death of Mr. Graham 
the whole property passed into the hands of Mr. 
Hartley. 

Meanwhile the original business of Mr. Hartley's firm 
continued. The Civil War, as we have seen, helped it 
much. So, too, the Franco-Prussian War and the 
Russo-Turkish War brought additional business to it. 
That partnership was broken in the year 1875 by the 
retirement of Mr. Schuyler, and in 1899 by the death 
of Mr. Graham. No new members were added ; and 
the business in April, 1900, was incorporated under the 
name of the M. Hartley Company. 

Such were the chief business interests of Mr. Hart- 
ley's life. They showed admirably the various lines of 
work which occupied him. It was a life devoted to sound 
and epoch-making industrial enterprises ; steady, stable, 
successful. 



VII 

Home and Family Life 

ON his return from Europe, in 1863, Mr. Hartley 
went to live at 1 7 West Thirtieth Street, a house 
which he had purchased during the early years of the 
war. Four children had been born to him : Caroline 
Jenkins, who died in infancy; Emma; and twin daugh- 
ters, Grace and Helen. In 1879 ^'^^ bought 232 Madi- 
son Avenue, where he lived until his death. 

The summer months, during the early part of his 
married life, he passed at watering-places, chiefly at 
Long Branch, where he could enjoy sea-bathing, of 
which he had always been very fond, and at Saratoga. 
But in 1875 his pastor and friend, the Rev. Dr. William 
Adams, induced him to change his summer resort to the 
Orange Mountains, where his own place was. For a 
series of years, accordingly, Mr. Hartley hired a fur- 
nished house near Dr. Adams. Finding the place con- 
venient to his business and healthful and enjoyable for his 
family, he bought, in 1881, property pleasantly situated 
on the brow of the mountain, a short distance to the 
north of Dr. Adams's home. 

In this quiet retreat Mr. Hartley passed the most 
happy days of his life. On his return from business in 

58 



MARCELLUS HARTLEY 59 

the city, he would, rain or shine, mount his horse, nor 
was he satisfied until he had ridden ten or fifteen miles. 
It is doubtful whether within that radius he did not, at 
one time or other, cover every accessible rod of road. 
Altogether he did an immense amount of riding; in- 
deed, he missed few days in the entire twelvemonth. 
His most usual route, especially toward the end of his 
life, was along the shady road of Llewellyn Park to 
Montclair, and thence home by the top of the mountain. 
From here he could see the sun as it sank behind the 
range of hills to the west, while to the east would break 
out the myriads of electric lights in New York and the 
smaller towns. To the south, the view from his place 
extended to the Narrows : on a clear day he could see 
the shore of Long Island. To the north, over the 
marshes of the Passaic and the Hackensack, his eye 
rested on the green, woody back of the Palisades. 

Mr. Hartley's habits were most simple. On coming 
in from his ride, he would prepare for his dinner, and af- 
ter that would smoke and read the evening papers or 
some historical or biographical work. Rarely did he 
sit up beyond half-past ten, and to this simple, quiet, 
methodical life can be ascribed the remarkably good 
health which he enjoyed to the close of his days. On 
Sunday only did he vary from this regularity. Then 
he attended service at the St. Cloud Presbyterian 
Church, a pretty ivy-covered stone chapel, erected by 
the summer residents on the mountain to provide a 



6o A MEMOIR OF 

suitable place for Dr. Adams to continue the summer 
services which he had begun in his study. The chapel 
was about a mile distant from Mr. Hartley's home ; 
thither and back he walked, no matter what the weather 
might be. 

The society which Mr. Hartley found in this little 
community was to him most congenial; it consisted of 
neighbors with whom he stood upon terms of delight- 
ful intimacy. They were the Rev. Dr. Adams, Gen- 
eral Randolph B. Marcy, General George B. McClellan, 
George Hecker, Dr. E. E. Marcy, John Crosby Brown, 
Eugene Delano, and Douglas Robinson. Frequently 
on summer evenings might be seen gathered together 
on the piazza of one of the summer homes Dr. Adams, 
General Marcy, General McClellan, Mr. Brown, Mr. 
Delano, and Mr. Hartley, with the members of their 
families, engaged in friendly chat. The army had the 
upper hand, because richer in interest and anecdote. 
General Marcy would, in his entertaining way, tell some 
exciting tales of his Indian campaigns, of his fierce en- 
counters with and hair-breadth escapes from grizzly 
bears in the Rocky Mountains ; General McClellan, 
more reticent until warmed up, would relate incidents and 
anecdotes of his long and varied experience in army 
life; while the genial, courtly Dr. Adams, as a fit ending, 
would conclude with some amusing episode of his cleri- 
cal career. 

Of those who frequently accompanied Mr. Hartley, 



MARCELLUS HARTLEY 6i 

not only upon his walks to and from church but also in 
the long rambles which he delighted to take among the 
woods and over the hills, General Randolph B. Marcy 
was the most constant companion. The two had a 
great affection for each other. General Marcy was a 
retired officer of the regular army ; he had served with 
distinction in the Mexican War, had explored the Red 
River country, and had fought through the Rebellion. 
His genial manners, the richness and variety of his ex- 
periences, and the fact that, notwithstanding his ad- 
vanced years, he was a good pedestrian and a charming 
companion, made him especially congenial to Mr. Hart- 
ley. Often the latter would tell how much he missed 
General Marcy at his death, and he sometimes related a 
touching incident which happened at the funeral. It 
was to the effect that General Sherman, who, though 
old and enfeebled, was present, stepped forward and 
kissed his dead friend, saying, " Good-by, my dear old 
comrade ; I shall soon be with you." 

When, however, summer advanced and the heat be- 
came oppressive, Mr. Hartley would, with his family, leave 
the Orange Mountains for cooler places. Of these Long 
Branch was the most convenient resort during the busy 
days of the Civil War, for it enabled him to reach his 
business easily. With the more leisurely period which 
followed the war, he would go to a greater distance from 
the city, and for some years made it his custom to spend 
a few weeks of each summer at Saratoga. Here, besides 



62 A MEMOIR OF 

the benefit which he received from the complete change 
of air, he had the pleasure of meeting many old friends, 
among whom were Isaac N. Phelps, James Brown, Dr. 
John T. Metcalf, and Henry A. Hurlbut. Here, too, he 
saw many foreigners whom he knew in a business or 
social way and whose company he enjoyed. 

In 1882 he gave up Saratoga for the Catskills. Here 
he did much walking, and from his excellent knowledge 
of the country he frequently became the guide of his com- 
panions through the tortuous paths among the moun- 
tains. Among his companions in these tramps were 
Justice Strong and Mr. Alexander Brown. In the Cat- 
skills, however, he missed his favorite pastimes of bath- 
ing, riding, and driving, and consequently the next season 
he went to Southampton, Long Island, where the ex- 
cellent roads and invigorating surf enabled him to in- 
dulge to the fullest extent in his favorite exercises. At 
Southampton his companion was Dr. Markoe, his 
neighbor in the city. They would go bathing together 
nearly every day, and would often amuse themselves in 
the pleasant sport of shooting at a target. Dr. Markoe 
was perhaps his closest friend; their intimacy was without 
reserve. Although Dr. Markoe was Mr. Hartley's senior 
by many years, yet the freshness of his spirit, the geni- 
ality of his disposition, and their similar tastes made 
them such delightful companions to each other that 
their friendship continued until the death of Dr. Markoe. 

After 1895 Mr. Hartley abandoned his yearly visits 



MARCELLUS HARTLEY 63 

to Southampton, owing to the death of his daughter, 
Grace Hartley Stokes, and his granddaughter, Emma 
Hartley Stokes, who had been with him at that place. 
The associations became so painful that he was unable 
to return. Succeeding summers, accordingly, he spent 
at Simsbury and Norfolk, Connecticut, where his fond- 
ness for good riding was fully satisfied. He also made 
several visits to Canada, and had much pleasure in 
showing his family the interesting places there. From 
a driving trip that he and his family took in the White 
Mountains he derived an enjoyment which he was never 
tired of recalling. The variety of these excursions was 
a means of diversion and real refreshment to his spirit. 

During the last three summers of his life he took trips 
successively to Montreal and Quebec, the Thousand 
Islands, and Bar Harbor. These he made with his friend, 
Mr. John A. Browning, and his grandson, and, accord- 
ing to the accounts of his companions, Mr. Hartley on 
these occasions exchanged the cares of his business for 
genuine relaxation. His playful remarks constantly 
kept his companions in his own mirthful humor. The 
usual programme was a walk in the morning through 
the village where they happened to be; their amuse- 
ment lay in the various articles or books in the stores 
and the different types of people that they met. In the 
afternoon a horseback ride was usual. It was not in- 
frequent for Mr. Hartley to be caught in a rainstorm 
several miles from home and to ride back thoroughly 



64 A MEMOIR OF 

drenched. In all these things he found diversion. He 
seemed to particularly enjoy the month he spent at Bar 
Harbor during his last summer. 

The following little story, told by one of Mr. Hartley's 
fellow -travelers, is characteristic : 

" We started on Sunday morning for a certain church. On 
arriving there we found the building overcrowded because of a 
visiting clergyman, and we accordingly entered a simple little 
chapel farther on. We all agreed that the sermon there was 
excellent, although some of its points did not harmonize with 
Mr. Hartley's ideas of orthodoxy. During the discussion which 
followed, Mr. Hartley, after a brief interval of silence, suddenly 
exclaimed : * Life is a mystery, anyhow. The only thing to do 
is to play trumps all the time.' ' What are trumps? ' asked one 
of the three. ' Hearts,' he said instantly, and looked earnestly 
and inquisitively into the eyes of his questioner." 

All in all, Mr. Hartley's conception of a vacation was 
that in it one should get himself into such condition that 
he could derive enjoyment from his work. Whereas 
many workers go on the principle of getting enjoyment 
in their vacation after hard work in their regular occupa- 
tion, Mr. Hartley reversed the process. His idea was 
"get your fun from your work." 

As has been hinted in the preceding paragraphs, the 
pleasant life of Mr. Hartley was interrupted, on more 
than one occasion, by the greatest sorrow which man- 
kind has to bear — the loss of children. On May 6, 1880, 
his eldest daughter, Emma, was married to Mr. Nor- 
man White Dodge. In anticipation of their marriage, 



MARCELLUS HARTLEY 65 

Mr. Hartley had bought the house in Thirty-seventh 
Street which adjoins his own on Madison Avenue, and had 
had it reconstructed and connected with his own. Here 
Mrs. Dodge went to live, and her nearness to her father 
was always a source of great joy to him. In her death, 
however, which occurred the third of March, 1881, Mr. 
Hartley sustained the great affliction of his life. It was, 
since the death of his infant daughter, his first bereave- 
ment, and the loss came almost without warning. Crush- 
ing though the blow was to him, the fortitude with which 
Mr. Hartley bore up under the loss of this beloved 
daughter was a source of wonder to those who knew 
what an idol she had been to him. He found consola- 
tion in the son who took his grandfather's name, and to 
him Mr. Hartley's affection was transferred. Indeed, 
on no one did he lavish more love and tenderness than 
on Marcellus Hartley Dodge. The year was one of a 
double sorrow: almost in the hour of his daughter's death, 
his venerable and beloved father ended his long career 
of usefulness. 

The following year, on the twenty-seventh of No- 
vember, 1882, one of his twin daughters, Grace, 
was married to Mr. James Stokes. Mr. Hartley 
had bought for her a country home next his own on 
the Orange Mountains, and since Mr. Stokes was also 
a near neighbor in the city, Mr. Hartley was en- 
abled to see his daughter very frequently. On De- 
cember 20, 1884, a daughter was born to Mrs. Stokes. 



66 MARCELLUS HARTLEY 

This child, Emma Hartley Stokes, was, for her years, 
remarkably clever and mature, and of very win- 
ning ways. At the age of eleven, however, she was 
taken away. There had been a son, Marcellus Hartley 
Stokes, younger than the girl, but he had died at the 
age of eighteen months ; and the death of this only 
daughter, depriving Mrs. Stokes of both her children, was 
more than she could bear. On Easter morning, 1896, 
she died suddenly, but a few months after her daughter. 
Mr. Hartley suffered deepest anguish of spirit at this 
second double bereavement. No affliction could have 
been more sad and poignant, but he received it with 
that calm resignation which came from well-grounded 
faith in his religion, and which enabled him to say, ''The 
Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away ; blessed be 
the name of the Lord." 

There now remained in Mr. Hartley's family the twin 
sister of Mrs. Stokes and his grandson. On the 30th 
of June, 1892, this daughter, Helen, was married to 
Mr. George Walker Jenkins. There are two daughters, 
Helen Hartley Jenkins and Grace Hartley Jenkins. 



VIII 

Last Years (^i888-igo2) 

WITH the buying of the Remington Arms Com- 
pany in 1888, and the placing of that interest on 
a substantial basis, the main line of Mr. Hartley's busi- 
ness enterprises was completed, and what remained 
for him to do was chiefly the overseeing of his various 
property. He was then sixty-one years of age, and 
had consequently reached the time when many men are 
willing, so far as possible, to retire and repose under 
well-earned laurels. With Mr. Hartley the case was 
different. Up to the time of his death, he continued to 
be actively employed in making solid and in broadening 
his industries, and he also took a hand in many new 
affairs. He gave much time and advice to other busi- 
ness and to worthy charity, and the years were of in- 
tense and ceaseless activity. 

The cause of this activity is not far to seek. Doubt- 
less it may be partly found in the fact that Mr. Hart- 
ley's wide experience and proved sagacity made him an 
invaluable counselor to friends whose requests he was 
too good-natured to refuse; but those who have followed 
his life during the decade of 1880-1890 will also per- 
ceive that he was then passing through a critical stage 

67 



68 A MEMOIR OF 

temperamentally. Up to 1881 his life had been one of 
constant success and growing triumph. In that year 
the death of his daughter smote him so sorely that his 
best hope of forgetfulness lay in hard work. The fol- 
lowing deaths in his family urged him in the same direc- 
tion. Hence, in part at least, came the eagerness with 
which he welcomed new opportunities to occupy his 
energy, and hence, perhaps, it was that when he died 
he died suddenly and in the harness. 

The man who, probably, did most to save Mr. Hartley 
from dwelling too much upon his sorrow was the late 
Henry Baldwin Hyde, president of the Equitable Life 
Assurance Society. The two men had become ac- 
quainted not far from the time of Emma Hartley's death. 
Through Mr. Hyde, Mr. Hartley became a director in 
the Equitable and later in many of the companies con- 
trolled by that Society. The fact that Mr. Hartley was 
a member of the Executive Committee of the Equitable 
and for some time chairman of it brought him into fre- 
quent contact with Mr. Hyde ; they regularly met each 
other three times a week and often every day to talk 
over the business of the Society. One of the results 
was the forming of a close friendship, which was pecu- 
liarly striking because of the confidence each gave to 
the other, and the regard shown by each for the sound- 
ness of the other's judgment. That was the beginning 
of a long series of offices of trust into which Mr. Hartley 
entered outside his own manufacturing concerns, and 



MARCELLUS HARTLEY 69 

which gave his great energy constant occupation. It 
must not, of course, be inferred from what has been said 
that Mr. Hartley was ever in danger of yielding to morbid 
depression over his sorrow ; his reason was too clear 
and firmly seated for any such catastrophe ; he was 
always completely master of himself What he was 
enabled to do through the help of his friend was, how- 
ever, to find serious and useful forms of distraction, and 
it was in such boards of deliberation that his experience 
and judgment were invaluable. 

It is impossible to write of this period of Mr. Hart- 
ley's life without speaking of a gentleman who was on 
several boards of directors with him. With no one did 
Mr. Hartley cherish a closer intimacy than with Wil- 
liam A. Wheelock. It seems right to say that to him 
Mr. Hartley gave his complete confidence, and derived 
unbounded pleasure from a friendship extending over 
nearly half a century. 

It is unnecessary to give a complete list of the various 
corporations with which Mr. Hartley was connected 
during the last years of his life, and of which he was a 
director. Among them were the Manhattan Railroad 
Company, the Western, Lincoln, and German-American 
National Banks, the Mercantile Trust Company, the 
Fifth Avenue Trust Company, the American District 
Telegraph Company, the Audit Company, the American 
Surety Company, and, finally, the International Bank- 
ing Corporation. In the first two and the last two of 



70 A MEMOIR OF 

these he was on the Executive Committee. These 
various institutions required his constant attention, some 
daily and others weekly, and he was rarely missing from 
their meetings. He had also the charge of several 
estates which claimed his thoughtful care and large 
amounts of his time. How he managed to perform all 
these various duties was a source of wonder to those 
familiar with his business life, but the reason has been 
stated above. Whatever he did, he did without apparent 
strain and with little perturbation. 

Such offices as these frequently fall to the lot of suc- 
cessful and prominent business men. By them these 
positions are regarded partly in the light of honorary 
rewards for their sagacity and partly as a public duty 
imposed upon them by the ideals of business. Such 
posts may be looked upon as semi-charities. The de- 
scription may certainly be applied to Mr. Hartley's 
work in reinvigorating the " New York Times," wherein 
he did the community a notable service in preventing 
that paper from lapsing from the respectable and intelli- 
gent paper that it always had been into a sensational 
sheet. It was at a time when, in the words of the pres- 
ent proprietor, "the necessity of conducting newspapers 
along sensational lines had almost grown into a supersti- 
tion among the journalists of this country." The desire 
of the management, however, was that the paper should 
remain true to the respectable ideal that it had always 
had. Furthermore, they wished, if possible, to reduce the 
price to one cent, not only as a business policy, but that 



MARCELLUS HARTLEY 71 

the paper might be within the reach of the poorer classes 
at the same price as the cheap sensational journals. The 
question was one of finance, since considerable loss 
would be sustained in making the venture. The possi- 
bilities of the move impressed Mr. Hartley and appealed 
to his civic sense; he came forward with an offer to ad- 
vance the money necessary to make the change, and to 
assume any deficiency that there might be until such 
time as the publisher could place the sheet on a self- 
sustaining basis. The venture proved to be completely 
successful. The circulation and the advertising patron- 
age rapidly increased, and before long the paper not only 
paid expenses, but yielded a large profit. Mr. Hartley's 
disinterestedness is shown in the fact that, again to 
quote the present proprietor of the paper, he "was for 
six years a member of the Board of Directors of the 
'New York Times' Company, simply holding a qualify- 
ing share in the company. Had he owned a large block 
of stock, he could not have been more useful with his 
advice or helpful with his money. He never at any 
time tried to influence the general policy of the news- 
paper, and never asked any special consideration for 
himself, his friends, or any interest he and they repre- 
sented." This is but an example of the kind of philan- 
thropy which Mr. Hartley frequently practised. It was 
of that valuable sort of charity which puts worthy busi- 
ness enterprises on a solid and paying basis, and in so 
doing confers a substantial and honorable gift upon all 
members of a community. 



72 A MEMOIR OF 

Mr. Hartley, however, was charitable in the more 
strict sense of the word. Perhaps his most conspicuous 
service was what he did for the support of the Hartley- 
House. Early in the year 1897 an industrial settlement 
was opened at 413 West Forty-sixth Street by the As- 
sociation for Improving the Condition of the Poor, an 
institution which his father had been instrumental in 
founding. In memory of Robert Milham Hartley the 
Association had named the new settlement Hartley 
House. In it Mr. Hartley took keen interest and 
pleasure. He soon purchased the building which the 
settlement was occupying and presented it to the Asso- 
ciation. It happened that his daughter, Mrs. James 
Stokes, had bequeathed a sum of money to found a 
kindergarten. Mr. Hartley added largely to this fund, 
and the Emma Hartley Stokes Kindergarten, thus 
founded and endowed, was placed in the Hartley 
House. Subsequently, Mr. Hartley, to enlarge the 
work of the settlement, bought two more buildings and 
added a large gymnasium. He not only contributed 
much money to the support of the settlement, but he 
made its interests his own, and served on its Board of 
Directors until his death. 

The last and perhaps the most conspicuous activity of 
any sort was the interest he took in the International 
Banking Corporation, of which he was president. This 
concern occupied much of his time and thought in the 
months preceding his death, which occurred on the after- 



MARCELLUS HARTLEY ^2> 

noon of January 8, 1902. For a few days previous he had 
been complaining of indigestion, but, since his health 
had always been good and he had scarcely ever been 
confined at home, he thought little of the matter. On 
the morning of the sad occurrence he left his house in 
his usual cheerful humor and drove to his office, where 
he was engaged during the morning. Then he attended 
a meeting of the Executive Committee of the Equitable 
Life Assurance Society, took lunch with one of his most 
valued friends, Mr. James W. Alexander, and afterwards 
went to a meeting of the Executive Committee of the 
American Surety Company. His colleagues were seated 
about the long table of the room. With them he chatted 
gaily for a moment, but presently became silent. It was 
then noticed that his head was drooping lower and lower 
on his chest. To a question whether he felt faint he 
could make no reply; his head fell forward, and in an 
instant, with the arms of Mr. Smith about him and 
his hand clasped in Mr. Wheelock's, surrounded by 
friends and business associates, Marcellus Hartley passed 
away. 

His funeral took place on the following Saturday from 
the Madison Square Presbyterian Church, whence other 
members of his family had been carried for burial. In 
the absence of his pastor. Dr. Charles H. Parkhurst, 
Bishop Potter and the Rev. Dr. Roderick Terry con- 
ducted the service. The pall-bearers were his friends and 
associates in business. They were William A. Wheel- 



74 MARCELLUS HARTLEY 

ock, Levi P. Morton, D. Willis James, Anson Phelps 
Stokes, Eugene Delano, James W. Alexander, Andrew 
Carnegie, James H. Hyde, John A. Stewart, William 
E. Dodge, R. Fulton Cutting, George Westinghouse, 
General Louis Fitzgerald, General Thomas C. Eckert, 
Russell Sage, General Thomas H. Hubbard, George W. 
Hebard, and Valentine P. Snyder. Most of these friends 
have written tributes to Mr. Hartley's life and character; 
what they have said, together with some editorial com- 
ments, will be found at the end of this volume. Mr. 
Hartley was buried at Greenwood. He is survived by 
his widow, his daughter, and his three grandchildren. 



IX 
Character 

IT remains to make a general statement of the per- 
sonal traits, the character, the ideals, and the business 
principles of Mr. Hartley. Physically Mr. Hartley was 
below the ordinary height and was rather light of frame. 
His complexion was fair, his eyes grayish blue and of 
unusual penetration, his features clear-cut and firm, and 
his whole expression was one of keenness, composure, 
and tenderness. His step was vigorous, though slow 
and measured, and all his movements expressed con- 
trolled energy. He bore himself with dignity, and his 
demeanor was one of quiet self-respect. 

By temperament and training Mr. Hartley was, in the 
best sense of the word, practical. From the account of 
his interests given in the preceding pages, it is evident 
that he was wholly alive to the working value of an idea. 
For theorizing and for pure speculation he had no liking, 
but his mind was constantly occupied with the putting 
into practice of some idea which would furnish people 
with commodities of substantial value, and which would 
directly increase their comfort and convenience. " I 
am," he wrote in 1886, "still hard at work. It would 

75 



76 A MEMOIR OF 

be easy for me to retire in one sense, but I sincerely 
believe a man is better off hard at work. I believe the 
true way to benefit mankind and those who make up 
your world is to keep them employed, developing inter- 
ests, giving them a chance to live, putting your money 
into their enterprises. Though they are not always suc- 
cessful, still you give a living to many families." His 
temperament may, therefore, be described as active, 
and his training had, from his first entry into business, 
been of the sort to foster rather than to repress what 
was the most striking quality of his intellect — his ability 
to see the practical bearings of whatever he applied 
his mind to. In the hundreds of business letters which 
he wrote the main idea seems to be: "This thing will 
work" or "This thing will not work." 

Expressed rather more profoundly, the idea which 
dominated Mr. Hartley's activity was that life is a seri- 
ous business, not an affair merely of pleasure and senti- 
ment. For romance and sentimentality, those forces 
which urge a man to seek his joy in what is not rather 
than what is, which lead him to override and trample on 
the facts of the world, and at their best raise him to 
astounding heights of individuality, Mr. Hartley had 
little liking. He read the letters of life clearly, swiftly, 
and without evasion. There is in some of his later per- 
sonal correspondence a hint of a singularly simple and 
straightforward view of the world. Life is an affair of 
plain daily duties, of making the best of opportunities, 



MARCELLUS HARTLEY 'j^ 

of honest endeavor, of ceaseless, often sad, striving. We 
are placed in this world, the note is, not for our earthly 
pleasure, but, under the guiding hand of Providence, for 
our eternal honor. To its decrees we must bow. " I 
wish I could say or do something to break the blow," 
he wrote to a friend, "but it is useless. It is beyond all 
human power. We take a different view of life after 
such an event; our hold is shaken; we begin to look to 
the future, and after a while we have more on the other 
side than on this. This is the way Providence has of 
dealing ; we must accept it and cannot alter it, and after 
a while would not, if we could." So it was that Mr. 
Hartley's life was spent in constant labor, untouched 
by idleness and untainted by depression. 

Such views are not uncommon. What, however, dis- 
tinguished Mr. Hartley from the great majority of his 
serious fellow-men was the union of this sober philosophy 
with great clearness and firmness of intellect. He saw 
his facts clearly and readily, down to the minute details. 
Nothing, perhaps, in the history of his mind is more 
striking than the fact that he knew the small things of 
his business, and never regarded them as unworthy of 
his notice. Facts, details, minutiae were to him ever 
present, and it is amazing to note the number and variety 
of those facts over which his eye swiftly and surely 
ranged. 

It must not, however, be imagined that Mr. Hartley's 
mind busied itself simply with these facts as facts. On 



78 A MEMOIR OF 

the contrary, as has been hinted above, he always had 
large ends in view, and held to principles of which 
details were but the working out and to which they 
were subservient. His mind was imaginative, not in 
the sense that he combined the details of life into large 
and generous pictures, but for the reason that he saw the 
bearing of every detail and could make it leap and spring 
into new combinations with other details, from which 
emerged new establishments and fruitful enterprises. 

Nor should it be supposed that the matter-of-fact 
quality of Mr. Hartley's intellect obliterated the gentler 
side of his nature or allowed it to suffer from neglect. 
The clearness of mind which always distinguished him 
did, indeed, carry with it a prevailing honesty, a hatred 
of sham, fraud, and dissimulation, which not infrequently 
led to severity of manner. By disposition, however, he 
was kind and benevolent. He wanted other people to 
do what he could do, to succeed as he had succeeded, 
and he helped many with sagacious counsel. Of his 
kindness there is no better example than the letters of 
advice which he not infrequently wrote to people who 
were in hard straits. From his vast acquaintance with 
practical affairs he mapped out a detailed plan of con- 
duct for them to pursue if they wished to regain their 
place in the world. Some of the letters are marvelously 
wise and helpful. 

In all such letters of advice the main idea, which was 
worked into a wealth of detail, was self-control. In 



MARCELLUS HARTLEY 79 

preaching this doctrine, Mr. Hartley did no more than 
he himself practised. Restraint was a dominant quality 
of his intellect. In trying and distressing circumstances 
he always had perfect control of himself This seeming 
lack of sensibility was in no respect due to hardness of 
heart or to an unsympathetic nature ; on the contrary, 
he was the kindest of men. It was but the expression 
of a temperament distinguished for the clearness with 
which it read facts and for its power of self-suppression. 
Mr. Hartley always submitted patiently to the inevitable. 
This self-control enabled him to pursue his schemes 
without impatience, to deny himself when a good cause 
could be advanced, to be systematic, perseverant, stead- 
fast. It led him to see the folly of display and extrava- 
gance, and kept him free from affectation. 

Simplicity was a striking trait of his character. He 
was not in the least austere, and what he wanted he usu- 
ally got; but for show, as such, he had no taste. His 
amusements were few and wholesome. Horseback rid- 
ing, walking, surf-bathing, target- shooting, billiards, and 
the like, were his favorite recreations. Public speaking 
and debate were always a source of great delight to him, 
and to gratify his pleasure in them he would put him- 
self to inconvenience. He stayed much at home, and 
here he took great pleasure in the society of his family, 
in occasional games of cards with them, and not sel- 
dom in reading. His reading was confined chiefly to 
standard books, though he not infrequently took up 



8o A MEMOIR OF 

novels. Biography and history he liked very much, and 
Napoleon was perhaps his especial favorite. 

Mr. Hartley's simplicity and self-control made him 
rather formal in his address toward people, and may 
have caused him to be somewhat reserved in his 
friendships. He had very many friends, in business and 
out ; but, like most clear men, few intimate ones to whom 
he gave his confidence. To those in whom he had faith, 
no man was more loyal ; but he was naturally slow to 
forget a betrayal of his trust. Truthfulness he loved, 
and next to this he believed in order, punctuality, and 
method ; these things he demanded from his employees 
and associates. Of all these virtues he was himself an 
exemplar, and they were the result of this same clear- 
sighted self-control. 

In politics, Mr. Hartley may best be described as a 
patriotic American. The earliest recollection we have 
of his beliefs was when, as a lad visiting his grandfather 
at Bayside, it pleased him to call himself a Democrat, 
although he was too young to know the meaning of the 
term. In jest, his grandfather used to name him " Gen- 
eral," after General Jackson, the popular hero of the day. 
When in his teens and somewhat familiar with politics, 
he became an ardent Whig and a great admirer of 
Henry Clay. On one of his trips West, in the early 
fifties, he called upon that distinguished statesman at 
the quiet shades of Ashland, Kentucky, and he would 
frequently relate with great zest the cordial reception 



MARCELLUS HARTLEY 8i 

he received. He often told of Clay's charm of manner, 
the soundness of his views, and his wonderful personal 
magnetism. The impression was never effaced from his 
mind. It is safe to say that the principles for which 
Clay stood always remained with Mr. Hartley. 

His political beliefs, however, though constant, ex- 
press themselves in adherence to different movements. 
On the founding of the Know-Nothing party in 1853, 
on the principle that America should really mean the 
Union of the States, with no North, no South, no East, 
and no West, without sectarianism in legislation or re- 
ligion and without the too eager assimilation of foreign- 
ers into the body politic, Mr. Hartley gave it his sup- 
port. He soon perceived, however, that the country 
was large enough and elastic enough to take in all who 
come, and, indeed, the speedy disruption of the Know- 
Nothing party proved his political sagacity. Then he 
turned to the newly risen offspring of the Whigs, the 
Republican party, which was formed at the opening of 
the Civil War, and to this he gave his earnest support 
until the time of his death. But he was never so wedded 
to party as to be subservient to its dogmas when, in his 
judgment, its principles were being sacrificed to advance 
the personal ambition of men. His knowledge of hu- 
man nature enabled him quickly to discover the motives 
of men, and he never hesitated to oppose any selfish 
policy which was undermining public interest. 

Mr. Hartley never held public office, though often 



82 A MEMOIR OF 

urged by his friends to do so. He was too busy in 
prosecuting his various enterprises to pay attention to 
the administration of public affairs. He contented him- 
self with advising party leaders, and would contribute 
money whenever necessary to maintain party organiza- 
tion. The only exception to his purely private career 
was his course during the Civil War, when, as we have 
seen, he devoted his time and knowledge to the aid of 
the Government. The office, however, was in no sense 
a political one. 

The temperament which dominated Mr. Hartley is in 
no way better seen than in his religion. Here his con- 
victions were strong; though never forced upon others, 
they were maintained in firmness and simplicity. In 
manhood he united with the Madison Square Presby- 
terian Church, and remained faithful to it during his 
life. One of his chief delights, after having heard a 
sermon that especially pleased him, was to have it 
printed and distributed. In this way, particularly to 
a clergyman doing his duty in a sequestered church, 
would he show his appreciation. His regard for the 
Sabbath was strong; his usual diversion on this day was 
a long, quiet walk in the town or country. 

It remains to say a few words of Mr. Hartley's busi- 
ness methods. His business was, of course, the main 
issue of his life, and for that reason the conduct of it 
merits special attention. In general, it was carried on with 
foresight, wisdom, and courage. No man's judgment was 



MARCELLUS HARTLEY 83 

regarded as sounder or of more value by his associates 
in the many industrial and financial dealings which he 
had with them. He frequently aided them to overcome 
difficulties and to meet emergencies. His clear, practi- 
cal, and judicial mind, fortified by over half a cen- 
tury of experience among men, made him in times of 
doubt and perplexity an invaluable friend and counselor. 
More than one instance is known of how Mr. Hartley 
helped financial institutions in trying crises. In all such 
cases his aid was timely and his foresight justified by 
the outcome. 

In Mr. Hartley's business methods individuality was 
perhaps the chief characteristic. His personality was 
never obscured. His will dominated every department 
and irradiated the diversities of his complex affairs. 
To the large mass of employees he was somewhat exact- 
ing, but his manner was always kindly. He would 
brook no assumption on their part, but was always glad 
to have their views ; and if they presented anything that 
appeared to his judgment better than his own, he would 
gratefully adopt it. Shirking he never permitted. The 
same industry and attention to business which he ob- 
served for himself he expected from all employees. His 
favorite formula of qualification for an employee was tact, 
push, and principle. Without tact and push, he argued, 
a man of principle may be good for many things, but 
not for business ; and without principle all the tact and 
push in the world may come only to evil. 



84 A MEMOIR OF 

The presence of Mr. Hartley's will in his business is 
well illustrated by the anecdote told by a man who was 
twenty-five years in his employ. '* In the early days of 
my acquaintance with Mr. Hartley, I once had occasion 
to dictate a letter in his presence to send to a dealer who 
had treated us unfairly. My letter started as follows : 
' We are surprised at the position you take. ' Mr. Hart- 
ley stopped me with a terse remark : * Don't write that, 
young man, and as long as you are in my employ don't 
allow yourself to be surprised at anything. Just take 
people as you find them. When you have been in busi- 
ness as long as I have, nothing people do will surprise 
you. Nothing ever surprises me. Remember, you are 
not surprised now ; they have done just what you ex- 
pected rascals would do. Begin that letter over again ! "* 
It must be added that the same writer speaks of the 
pleasure it was to be associated with Mr. Hartley, of 
the "many kindly admonitions fitly spoken in relation 
to business matters " which have "since served him well 
in times of emergency." The training received under 
Mr. Hartley was evidently excellent. 

Mr. Hartley could get along admirably with men. 
The large number of old employees in his offices and 
factories speaks eloquently for his dealings with those 
under him. The same general observation is true in 
his relations to the members of his firm. When, in 
1876, Mr. Schuyler retired, his interest was purchased 
by his partners and the firm name became Hartley and 



MARCELLUS HARTLEY 85 

Graham; shortly after the death of Mr. Graham in De- 
cember, 1899, the business was incorporated as the 
M. Hartley Company. These were the only changes. 
Throughout his life, Mr. Hartley's relations with his 
partners were always pleasant. This was due to the 
fact that, above all, Mr. Hartley was a peacemaker ; his 
self-control and his clearness of intellect made him per- 
ceive that business disasters follow quarrels. Whenever 
disturbed, as was rarely the case, his annoyance found 
expression in the low whistling of some tune ; this seemed 
to restore his mind to its usual composure. In the many 
boards of directors of which he was a member, discus- 
sions of some warmth would frequently arise. On these 
occasions he would listen passively until he perceived 
that the peace of the meeting was in danger ; then he 
would arise and, in a few well-chosen words of soothing, 
genial purport, turn the trend of the discussion and 
restore harmony. This faculty of pouring oil on trou- 
bled waters was one of his most constant traits of char- 
acter in his dealings with men, and it greatly contributed 
to the value of his services. 

Courage, as we have said, foresight and steadfastness, 
dominated his business career. He never embarked upon 
an enterprise without carefully contemplating from all 
points of view the chances of success. When his judg- 
ment was formed, he went to work with all his will and 
carried his enterprise to the end. He was never daunted 
by the difficulties inseparable from new undertakings, 



86 A MEMOIR OF 

and always gave such affairs whatever attention was 
needful. The capital that he had collected enabled him, 
of course, to take advantage of situations and to push 
through enterprises on a large scale; but that many of 
these undertakings proved profitable investments is 
merely an instance of his courage and foresight. His 
reputation for sagacity naturally inspired others in any 
business in which he had a hand. It stood by him until 
the end of his life. Neither mentally nor physically did 
he yield to the wasting decay of age. With the advance of 
years, long after he had acquired a fortune with which 
many men of affairs would have been content to retire to 
relieve their minds of the burden of business and to find 
some rest, we see Mr. Hartley not only as vigorous and 
alert as in the meridian of strength and manhood, but 
eager to assume new responsibilities. His confidence in 
the future was as real as his recollection of successful 
deeds in the past. Yet he was as cautious as he was 
brave; nor would he have anything to do with any 
scheme unless he saw the end from the beginning. 
Wherein he excelled other men was the quick judgment 
which enabled him to decide on a course of action. 
Once entered upon a course, he never lost heart or 
faltered. 

One reason for the confidence which people had in 
him was his reputation for honesty. In this honesty he, 
perhaps, displayed his greatest courage. For he was 
quick in the perception of right and wrong, and had the 



MARCELLUS HARTLEY 87 

courage to be honest on all occasions. In the councils 
of a board of direction, in his own large business, in his 
intercourse with his fellow-men, and in his duties to his 
Creator, he could never be turned from his ideal recti- 
tude, no matter in what position he was placed, no mat- 
ter how great the temptation might be. He had a maxim 
in dealing with corporations which he never failed to 
observe — "Take care of your stockholders, and your 
stockholders will take care of your company." He would 
entertain no proposition that in the least degree tended 
to hurt the interests of the stockholders. His name in 
the directorship of a company was a guarantee for the 
just carrying out of its projects. Whoever wrote his 
name under that of Marcellus Hartley was assured of 
the soundness of the enterprise and of the honor and the 
uprightness to be observed in the administration of its 
affairs. 

At the time of his death Mr. Hartley was but a few 
months less than seventy-five years of age. Fifty-eight 
of those years had been passed in active business, and 
the result for which they stand in the world of affairs 
was the establishing of many great and useful enter- 
prises, the means of livelihood to hundreds of men and 
women, a reputation for sound judgment, integrity, and 
wisdom, and a name synonymous with virtue and high 
citizenship. To the circle of close friends they stand for 
a genial and vigorous personality, a quiet humor, a gentle 
bearing, and a sympathetic heart. To his family they 



88 MARCELLUS HARTLEY 

mean, and will always mean, the blessed associations 
which cluster about the name of the considerate and 
dutiful son, the loyal brother, the loving husband, and 
the tender and righteous father. This brief memoir 
is but a slight sketch of the many things which serve to 
perpetuate the life and character of Marcellus Hartley. 



APPENDIX 

I Personal Tributes from Friends of Mr. Hartley. 

II Resolutions and Minutes of Corporations with 
WHICH Mr. Hartley was Connected. 

III Editorial Comment on Mr. Hartley's Death. 

IV Extracts from Mr. Hartley's Correspondence 

during the Civil War. 



I 



PERSONAL TRIBUTES 
FROM FRIENDS OF MR. HARTLEY 

The Address of the Right Rev. Bishop Potter at the 
funeral services of Mr. Hartley 

It is with exceeding regret that my friend, Dr. Parkhurst, is 
obHged to absent himself on this occasion on account of illness. 
I count it a privilege that, as a friend of our deceased brother, 
I have been invited to take part in these services ; for there is 
in such an occasion as this an element of gracious symmetry, 
too often, alas ! wanting when we come, amid broken hopes cut 
short and lives too soon ended, to pay our tribute to one whom 
God has taken to himself. 

Not only in that regard had Marcellus Hartley lived out the 
wonted span of life ; but he had substantially lived it all here. 
He was our own product; — bred and reared in this commu- 
nity ; and doing his work, from first to last, in the eyes of 
those who are represented here, and of those who have gone 
before them. 

There are two or three notes of such a career which we may 
well recall in this place ; for they were, from first to last, dis- 
tinctive, and they had in Marcellus Hartley rare and inspiring 
illustration. 

Mr. Hartley's record in his business life was not merely able ; 
it was blameless. In all his transactions the soul of honor, his 
character and influence were on the side of what I may call 
constructive righteousness; — that directness and integrity that 
build up and conserve all honest interests upon the broad foun- 
dation of honest dealing. 

9» 



92 APPENDIX 

United with this, in a very eminent way, were insight, fore- 
sight, and grasp. We have had great merchants in New York 
who were no more than great shopkeepers. Mr. Hartley had, in 
all those relations in which he wrought and served, both vision 
and grasp. He saw far afield, and he seized an opportunity 
with that swift intuition of its values which is one of the notes, 
in every calling, of genius. A characteristic illustration of this 
was furnished during the brief and only time he held what 
might be called a public office. President Lincoln made him 
a brigadier-general of the army during the Civil War, and sent 
him on an important mission abroad. It was there that he lis- 
tened to the speech of John Bright enlisting, in a country for- 
eign and largely hostile to the United States, the sympathy of 
his hearers. Many of us would have left that hall thrilled, feel- 
ing only that we had listened to a great speaker and passed a 
thoroughly enjoyable night. Marcellus Hartley saw a greater 
opportunity in the experience. He asked permission to pub- 
lish the speech and circulated it broadcast. 

A wise man once defined for me the difTerence between the 
successful man and the one doomed to failure. The one is 
able to grasp the initiative. It was the Bright incident which 
showed him as the man with a genius to grasp opportunity. 
He possessed in the highest degree the qualities of sound judg- 
ment and exceeding coolness. I was wont to meet him when 
we both sought recreation from the tasks of life in the saddle, 
and I shall never forget the refreshment that I gained on those 
occasions from my intercourse with him. Each time the same 
kindly note rang in his voice ; each time there was the same 
kindly smile ; and I took with me from them a something in- 
describably comforting to my work and daily life. It was be- 
cause in Marcellus Hartley was preserved that something sweet 
and bright with which God had blessed him at the very begin- 
ning. 

Mr. Hartley's beneficence was shown in many ways besides 
what we know of the Hartley House. But he had a singular 
genius for retirement and self-effacement. Think of it ! For 



APPENDIX 93 

nearly three quarters of a century he was a resident of New 
York and never did he hold public office ! I learned only yes- 
terday, by merest chance, that he had been a brigadier-gen- 
eral during the war. But to me, as to his other friends, he 
was never General Hartley, he was plain Marcellus Hartley. 
Truly, titles fall from the really great. These are some of the 
things for which we have to thank God this morning, the good 
example of His faithful servant. 

I may not intrude here upon the privacy of his domestic life, 
nor dwell upon characteristics which revealed themselves in the 
more intimate relations of the home and in closer friendships. 
But no one could know Marcellus Hartley, even superficially, 
without recognizing two qualities in him, out of which come 
the highest types of character. He was a man of principles, 
and not of expediency. He was a man of heart, and not 
merely a man of brains. He loved his fellow-men and gladly 
served them, and in all the relations of life he brought to 
them that singular charm of gracious courtesy, of inextinguish- 
able cheerfulness, of sunny sweetness of behavior and of pres- 
ence, which makes us feel to-day that here a light has gone 
out. Thank God, we know, as he knew, that in God's plan it 
was not to be quenched, and will not be ; but only transplanted 
to shine with undimmed luster in the perfect presence and by 
the perfect light. 



An Article by the Rev. Dr. Parkhurst, in the 
^^ Christian Work,'' entitled 

Marcellus Hartley 

I have not put this name at the head of my article for any 
purpose of eulogy. A man who did not care to be compli- 
mented while he was living would resent having advantage 
taken of his absence to compliment him after he is dead. 



94 APPENDIX 

Nor need it be said that the reference here made to Mr. 
Hartley is not because of the large wealth of which he stood 
possessed prior to his decease. No one will be disposed to 
deny, presumably, that when men as wealthy as he die, there 
is a natural and a carnal impulse to make much of the occasion 
simply out of regard to the immensity of the dead man's 
pecuniary accumulations. All such impulse, however, is dis- 
tinctly pagan, and can have no legitimate place in the con- 
sciousness of a Christian or in the means employed for the 
celebration or perpetuation of his memory. 

Speaking of eulogies, it needs to be said that one reason why 
we are often constrained to speak pleasantly of the dead is that 
we suddenly realize that we only imperfectly appreciated them 
while they were still living, and would like to make good 
previous omission ; and it is certainly true that our conscious- 
ness of estimable traits rarely becomes adequate and complete 
till the man or woman in whom they inhere is gone. It is 
regrettable that our admirations are so sadly belated. Mr. 
Depew stated this in his after-dinner style when he said that 
he preferred taffy to epitaph-y. When we read at Woodlawn 
the inscriptions on the tombs of the dead and remember that 
those living down in the city will have much the same inscrip- 
tions put on their monuments by and by — and very likely de- 
servedly — it sets us reflecting on the excellence of the people 
we are living among, and encourages in us the spirit of ante- 
mortem appreciation. 

There is, then, one feature in Mr. Hartley's character that I 
should like to specify, not at all in any spirit of compliment to 
him or his memory, but because it is something to be thought 
about by those of us who believe theoretically in the truth and 
in telling the truth, but who, as matter of practice, are willing 
on occasion to depart from the truth far enough to serve present 
interest and convenience. I doubt if Mr. Hartley was morally 
capable of telling a lie, or of consciously accommodating the 
truth to a momentary exigency. It is often remarked that busi- 
ness men have one reputation downtown and another reputa- 



APPENDIX 95 

tion uptown, but it is in view of what I know of his downtown 
reputation that I am emboldened to say that in his judgment 
there was no neutral territory between a truth and a lie, and 
that the instant truth stops lie begins, and that he never con- 
sciously stepped across the line. 

There was very little dogma in Mr. Hartley's religion, and 
very little emotion, but the line of rectitude meant the same 
thing to him that the plumb-line does to the mason, and he 
built to it. And that was one ingredient in what was known 
as his financial farsightedness. He may or may not have had a 
keener eye than many others, but at any rate there was no 
dust in his eye. Consequently many questions that were prob- 
lems to others were no problems to him, but axioms. The inner 
truthfulness of the man rendered distinct the outlines of the 
matters he had to deal with, and so made conclusions easy. 

He was, therefore, a man to tie to. He was one of those 
fixed centers around which the machinery of the financial 
world was able to turn without racking itself in the revolution. 
Such men are what make a business world possible. Wall 
Street can exist not because there are so many liars and thieves 
in it, but because there are so many, like Mr. Hartley, who 
recognize the fact that community of interest and of relations 
is made possible by the number of people that believe in truth 
and that stand by their word. Clergymen who avail of Wall 
Street to point their homilies on fraud do so because they 
don't know or because they want to be smart. 

It would be difficult to conceive of a volume more interest- 
ing and illuminating than the one Mr. Hartley might have 
written portraying, from his standpoint as Christian and suc- 
cessful man of affairs, his knowledge of men and things gained 
by a half century of intimate experience. 

A sample of what such a volume might have contained is 
afforded by a single remark that he dropped in course of a con- 
versation I had with him at his house some time ago. I had 
recently said something in a public way bearing upon the 
character and performances of a man of our State whose busi- 



96 APPENDIX 

ness connections are in this city, though not himself a citizen 
here. Mr. Hartley asked me abruptly, "What is the particular 

thing that Mr. is doing that in your judgment warrants 

your regarding him with so much suspicion and disfavor?" 
My answer was, " You are aware, Mr. Hartley, that we have 
recently been proving to the satisfaction of the public that 
there is in this city a compact between the criminal classes and 
the official classes, by virtue of which criminals have certain 
immunities allowed them in return for the money they pay 
over to the police, and that the wardman is the intermediary 
between the contracting parties. Now, my conception of Mr. 

is that he is a sort of wardman, the go-between between 

the corporations and the Legislature, and he handles the 'stuff' 
which the corporations put up, the payment of which secures 
them legislative favor." Mr. Hartley was always laconic in his 
style, and the only reply he made was, " That is about the size 
of it; I have had opportunity to know." I refer to this only 
as an illustration of the flood of light that in so many ways 
could be thrown upon both the bright and the dark side of our 
city by one so long and so intimately at home as Mr. Hartley 
with what goes to make up the city's life. 

The stamp which by his career of uncompromising integrity 
he has, for so long a term of years, been putting upon the busi- 
ness character of our town is one not easy to be effaced. We 
wish that his career of example and precept might have been 
longer continued. We wish that he had consented to allow to 
exhausted body and wearied mind that occasional term of re- 
laxation which such a life of mental strain demands ; but it is 
for each man to judge for himself how he can best fulfil his 
mission. Certain it is that from a life of such prolonged toil 
and incessant responsibility no exit could have been more con- 
genial to him than that which fell to his lot, to arrive at the 
end with native force unabated, and to fall with his armor on, 
in the midst of the congenial and sympathetic spirits that had 
been so long his comrades in the battle. 



APPENDIX 97 

A Letter from Mr. Andrew Carnegie 

The first thought of my friend Marcellus Hartley always crys- 
tallizes with the word Character, — a man of principle, straight 
as an arrow, his word as good as his bond. 

Then comes to me his loyalty to his selected friends. He 
did not choose friends hastily, could not have had many in the 
core of his heart ; he was much too positive and clear in his 
likings and judgment to be hail-fellow with the multitude. 

Those to whom he felt drawn must have at base similar vir- 
tues to his own. This is always the case with strong person- 
alities. Many liked and all respected him, and many he Hked 
but only the special few who were true he hooked to himself 
with bands of steel. Younger than himself, I had reason to 
note and appreciate this lovable trait. The days he called 
were red-letter days to me, and a growing appreciation of the 
man was one of my pleasures. I felt more and more drawn to 
him, until at last he became one to whom I felt, if I needed 
counsel, yes, or assistance, I should go at once, well assured I 
should not go in vain. He was a tower of strength to friends 
in trouble. In the whole range of my acquaintance I know of 
no one who personified more fully all the virtues of the men of 
affairs. He was the Captain of Industry in whom deceit, mis- 
representation, and sharp practice found no resting-place, a 
man with whom one could shake hands and rest certain that 
to the end he had a colleague who, come what might, would be 
found laboring side by side in perfect good faith. He never 
deserted an individual or a cause he had once espoused. 

Mr. Hartley had some conversations with me upon the final 
disposition of his great fortune, and was to take up that subject 
with me upon our return to New York in the autumn. He 
was deeply concerned, and resolved to place his affairs in order 
without delay, and he had lofty plans in view. Alas ! the sum- 
mons came before we could meet again, and friendly confer- 
ences were at an end. 



98 APPENDIX 

He has passed from among us, but the memory of a true 
man and loyal friend remains to us who knew him well ; nor 
will the day come, while memory remains, when I can forget 
Marcellus Hartley. 

Skibo Castle, August, 1902. 



A Letter from Mr. William A. Wheelock 

Marcellus Hartley was one of my dearest friends for many 
years, and the removal by death of no one outside of my own 
family could have come nearer to me. The confidence between 
us was mutual and close, and the almost daily relations between 
us in the several institutions in which we were associated 
cemented a friendship to be broken only by death. The fact 
that at one of these frequent meetings the silent message came 
to him, while his hand was in my own, I can never forget. 
The scene is constantly before me. I miss his companionship 
every day. 

In estimating the character and life of Mr. Hartley, there are 
two distinct sides. In the business world, where his success 
was phenomenal and complete, everything was compelled to 
bow to the mandate of his judgment, which seemed unerring, 
and the results achieved in his lifelong career fully justified 
the soundness of his judgment. No one could question his 
preeminence as one of the master minds in the commercial 
world. 

To me, however, the great charm of Mr. Hartley's character 
lay in his unaffected simplicity, his noble Christian life, and 
the intense loyalty to the memory of his distinguished father 
which he cherished. He was proud of his father's active in- 
terest in every worthy charity ; and in the many confidential 
talks we had as to the responsibilities of successful men, he 



APPENDIX 99 

seemed anxious and determined that his own name and mem- 
ory should be equally identified in the future with large and 
worthy charities. 

There were no striking incidents connected with my associa- 
tion with Mr. Hartley ; many of those in his earlier life have 
been so well portrayed by himself that they have become 
almost historic, and the records of our Civil War would not be 
complete without them. 

This is but a mere tribute to the life and character of my 
dear Mr. Hartley, whose many virtues I shall ever remember. 



A Tribute from Mr. James W. Alexander 

Marcellus Hartley was one of the most remarkable men I 
have ever met. I had some opportunity to know, for he was in 
and out of my office almost every day during the last ten years 
of his life. He served on the Executive Committee of the 
Equitable Society, which held three sessions a week, and he 
generally dropped in on other days, also. Mr. Hartley con- 
stantly reminded me of the proverb, " Seest thou a man diligent 
in his business? He shall stand before kings; he shall not stand 
before mean men." He was the most industrious man I ever 
knew. He began in that way and kept it up until the minute 
he died, at the age of seventy-four. He often told me that he 
got his amusement out of his business. He rode horseback 
every afternoon, but he did it systematically to keep his health 
robust. He took little part in society affairs, but was gener- 
ally at home in the evening, where he read a great deal. He 
had the habit of disposing at once of anything he had to do, 
and put in his work steadily throughout the day. 

He directed enormous concerns of his own. The Union 
Metallic Cartridge Company, which he practically owned, is, I 



L.ofC. 



loo APPENDIX 

suppose, the largest thing of its kind in the world, and this was 
only one of a number of such commercial and manufacturing 
enterprises which he managed. He supplied arms to all na- 
tions. He kept his eye on everything and never took his fin- 
ger off the lever. Even when he went on a vacation he kept 
up constant communication. Notwithstanding his own vast in- 
terests, he entered intelligently and diligently into the affairs of 
the companies of which he was a director. He was not a per- 
functory director ; he informed himself and he worked. 

In our own company he was a useful and wise coadjutor. It 
amazed me to see how interested he would become in matters 
outside the sphere in which he made his money. At the very 
time of his death he was occupying his mind, time, and talents 
in developing a new financial organization of world-wide im- 
portance, and had been in my office talking with me about it 
in the most enthusiastic strain fifteen minutes before he died. 
He had strong likes and dislikes, but they were always based 
on reasons — not mere prejudice. When he liked a man he 
stood by him through thick and thin. He was ready to back 
up his opinions and his friendships with his credit and his 
money. 

He was a very shrewd business man, with great courage 
when he had made up his mind. He was not a speculator. 
He was one of the earliest to see the practical future of elec- 
tricity and invested in it. 

When he began his business career he introduced new and 
resolute methods. He told me once that he had secured all 
the mosaics in Florence that could be bought, and all the red 
coral in Naples, to the astonishment of the dealers, and made 
much money by bringing them to this country for sale. This 
was when his business was in various kinds of merchandise. 
Afterward he became a great manufacturer. He knew and 
was known by every important man in New York, but he never 
sought prominence. He was gentle and companionable, but 
stern and unyielding when he thought principles were involved. 



APPENDIX loi 

A book embodying nothing but his own experiences would 
make a thrilHng volume. During the Civil War he visited 
Europe and bought arms for our government, and thwarted the 
efforts of the South in the same direction. 

Time will not suffice to give even a sketch of his career and 
character. But he was a marked man. His relations to char- 
ities and works of beneficence form another side which it is 
hoped may yet be made public. He had no counterpart that 
I know of. He was original and he was eminent in his domain. 
His loss will be keenly felt. But he died as he lived — in the 
harness. 



A Letter from Mr. George Gould 

I HAVE known him for twenty years, and he has always been 
one of my closest friends and associates. I met him to-day at 
a Director's meeting and was deeply grieved at the news of his 
sudden death. He had a charming personality and was a good 
business man with excellent judgment. He had hosts of friends, 
who appreciate his kindly ways, and who, I am sure, will be 
deeply grieved at his death. 



A Letter fr 07)1 Mr. James H. Hyde 

Mr. Hartley became a Director of the Equitable Life Assur- 
ance Society of the United States (founded by my father, Henry 
B. Hyde, in 1859) at the close of the year 1884. I was elected 
a member of that Board in 1895, and was closely associated 
with Mr. Hartley until the day of his death ; indeed, he at- 
tended a meeting of the Executive Committee of the Equitable 
Society on the day of his death. He was a zealous member of 
that Committee, whose chief province it is to find investment 



I02 APPENDIX 

for the assets of the Society, and he saw these assets grow from 
fifty-eight miUions in 1884, when he became a member of our 
Board, to more than three hundred and thirty millions at the 
time of his death. 

A minute account of Mr. Hartley's career would furnish an 
adequate history of the development of American manufacture 
and finance during the generation to which he belonged. The 
scope of his experience, the number of great enterprises with 
which he was identified directly or indirectly, his intimacy with 
the prominent men of his time, made his reminiscences exceed- 
ingly interesting; and when among his intimate friends, after 
telling some interesting experience in connection with the Civil 
War, or the laying of the Atlantic cable, or political conflicts, 
or labor disturbances, or financial panics, he was often urged in 
my hearing to put his reminiscences in writing for permanent 
preservation. 

Mr. Hartley was a man so quiet and unobtrusive that the 
casual observer little suspected his strength of character, but he 
was a man of strong individuality, keen intellect, and inquisi- 
tive eagerness to get to the bottom of things. Perhaps his 
chief characteristic was his tenacity of purpose, the courage 
with which, after satisfying himself with the soundness of an 
enterprise, he backed it up until success had been attained. 
Most of the enterprises in which he was directly interested suc- 
ceeded because he was never afraid to send what seemed to be 
good money after bad in order to make what appeared to be a 
forlorn hope a brilliant triumph. 

Mr. Hartley and my father were among the first men in this 
country to invest their money in electricity, and for a number 
of years there were periods when spectators prophesied nothing 
but disaster; but Mr. Hartley never faltered, and every one 
knows the result. Mr. Hartley and my father were close friends 
and intimately associated in business for nearly a quarter of a 
century. Mr. Hartley outlived my father scarcely more than 
two and a half years. 



APPENDIX 103 

A Letter from Mr. D. Willis James 

Mr. Marcellus Hartley was so long a prominent figure 
among the successful merchants of New York that his removal 
leaves a large vacant place. His life is an object-lesson to young 
men. Starting at the bottom, he quickly won a commanding 
position, and during our Civil War, forty years ago, he was a 
conspicuous figure and had large and very important trusts 
thrust upon him. He always proved himself to be fully equal 
to meet all demands made upon him. 

He was long recognized as one of the ablest and most suc- 
cessful manufacturers in the country. As a financier he held 
a high position, and as a negotiator he had few, if any, equals. 

Mr. Hartley was modest and unassuming; one had to know 
him well fully to recognize his abilities and the breadth of his 
view. 

He was a man to be trusted and to be depended upon in all 
the relations of life. He was not carried off his balance by 
prosperity, and was always calm in every storm. 

He continued to the last a regular attendant on the church 
of his fathers and a supporter of the institutions of religion. 

His removal is greatly deplored by a large number of de- 
voted friends. 



A Tribute from Hon. Chauncey M. Depew 

The first I heard of the death of Marcellus Hartley was 
when the pilot brought the newspapers aboard. Mr. Hartley 
and I were close friends for over forty years, and he was a 
lovable, splendid man. He was one of our very big men of 
affairs. His judgment in business was absolutely unerring. 
If he had written his autobiography, it would have proven a 
marvelously interesting book. With his unerring business 
judgment and great foresight, he amassed a great fortune. 



I04 APPENDIX 

When the amount of his estate is known, it will be a vast sur- 
prise to those who did not really know the quiet man of 
affairs. 

Few of our citizens have done greater service to the United 
States. In civil life, he was a great factor in the strife of the 
States. His services to the Union were of the utmost impor- 
tance. He not only succeeded in controlling the arms for the 
Northern armies, but he kept the Confederacy from obtaining 
arms. We did not then understand gun-making, and by visits 
to the factories he learned the secrets of gun-metals and mech- 
anism, which were invaluable to the Federal Government. A 
very great man, a true friend and real patriot, has gone. 



A Letter from Mr. John Crosby Brown 

My most vivid recollections of Mr. Hartley are connected with 
his life on Orange Mountain. In the earlier years of our resi- 
dence there it was Mr. Hartley's habit, on summer evenings 
after the close of a busy day in New York, to spend part of the 
evening on the piazza of Dr. William Adams's house, in com- 
pany with General George B. McClellan and General Randolph 
B. Marcy, when the conversation turned on various incidents 
of the Civil War in which they each took so prominent a part. 
Dr. Adams had the faculty of bringing out on such occasions 
special points in which the various persons present had been 
actively engaged, and members of our different families would 
gather to hear the story of some incident on a famous battle- 
field, or a visit to the Army of the Potomac in connection with 
the Christian Commission. At times General Marcy would 
relate his early experiences on the frontier, fascinating his 
hearers by many a thrilling incident of Indian adventure; 
and then, after Mr. Hartley had been a silent listener, Dr. 
Adams would turn to him, and in his persuasive way draw out 



APPENDIX 105 

the story of his Hfe and work in England as the representative 
of the United States Government in the purchase of arms and 
ammunition for the Federal army. His modesty in minimiz- 
ing the valuable service that he rendered at that time made a 
great impression upon those who were his listeners. 

A marked trait in his character that impressed me at all 
times was his courtesy to elderly people. I have before me 
the very vivid picture of his kindness and courtesy to my 
father and mother in their old age, notably at Saratoga, on the 
piazza of the old United States Hotel, when he never failed to 
do all in his power to make the afternoons and evenings pleas- 
ant for his old friends. 

I can say little about his business career; for, while I saw 
much of him in our country home and in New York in the 
winter, we had very few business transactions together, and in 
our busy Hves we seldom met downtown. 



A Letter from Mr. Anson Phelps Stokes 

I KNEW Marcellus Hartley for about thirty-five years. His 
father I also well remember when I was a boy ; he and my 
father were associated in charitable work for improving the 
condition of the poor. 

The first conversation with Marcellus Hartley that I recall 
was, I think, about 1864, when, for the Ansonia Brass and Cop- 
per Company, I made with him an important contract for car- 
tridge metal, and I made similar contracts with him in succeed- 
ing years. In our discussion regarding these contracts, I was 
impressed with his business ability and foresight, and I was 
well satisfied with the manner in which he carried out his agree- 
ments regardless of the course of the market. I became con- 
vinced that he was, or would soon be, the leading man in the 
ammunition business of the country. 



io6 APPENDIX 

When I was in the banking business in Wall Street, he came 
to see me, and invited me to become interested with him in a 
company for the development of electric lighting, regarding 
which he had been experimenting at Bridgeport. I became a 
director with him in this company, which he, with a few friends, 
controlled. I had a good opportunity to confirm my opinion 
as to his very great ability and high business character. 

I have seen him sitting almost silent during a discussion at 
a board meeting, and then ask some important question, or ex- 
press in few words some judgment, which, in the decision of the 
matters before us, had more influence than all that had been 
said by the other members. 

As a business adviser in important matters I think he was 
recognized in a number of boards as the wisest head, and he 
commonly did much more than his share of the work. 

He had a pleasant and cheerful manner which made people 
like to see him, and which, with the knowledge that he would 
stand by what he said, greatly facilitated the carrying out of 
important affairs. 

It was also pleasant to note, as I had repeated occasion to 
do, that, notwithstanding the excessive business cares which 
oppressed him, he was glad to give attention to charitable work 
at Hartley House and elsewhere. 

Our intercourse through these many years led me to esteem 
him highly. What Bishop Potter said at the funeral contained 
much that I, in common with other friends, have felt, but could 
not so well express. 



A Letter from Mr. George Westinghouse 

It affords me much pleasure to say that my associations with 
Mr. Marcellus Hartley gave me an opportunity to become well 
acquainted with him and to appreciate his many most excel- 



APPENDIX 107 

lent qualities. I regarded his judgment in many matters in 
which we were mutually interested as of the highest importance, 
and it was always to my regret that we had not become ac- 
quainted at a much earlier period and at a time when coopera- 
tion between us might have led to greater results in the de- 
velopment of the electrical enterprise in which we both took so 
much interest. 

He was always cordial and consistent, and always ready to 
render valuable assistance. His death caused me much sorrow, 
because it brought to an end relations which had grown to be 
pleasant in every way. 



A Letter from Hon. Levi P. Morton 

I AM pleased to know that a memoir of Marcellus Hartley is 
being prepared. It is only proper that some permanent memo- 
rial, which will in some degree do justice to his character and 
his services to the community, should be put in a form which will 
be acceptable to his many friends. I had the pleasure of know- 
ing him for many years in business and social relations, and al- 
ways held the highest opinion of his business abilities, integrity, 
and kindly nature. The community suffered a severe loss in 
his death. 



A Letter from Rev. Robert S. McGregor 

My acquaintance with Marcellus Hartley extended over a 
period of three years. From formality it merged into in- 
formality, and so into friendship. I knew him best in his St. 
Cloud home, where for two weeks I stayed as his guest. Shall 
I ever forget them, — those evenings spent in front of the blazing 



io8 APPENDIX 

hearth ; the insight he gave me into his early life, the stories he 
told me of the war, of Lincoln, of Grant, of those awful nights 
in Birmingham, England, and in Paris ! Or, again, shall I 
ever forget the stories of his struggles in the business world, 
or his association with men socially and politically, many of 
whom gave worth and character to our country's progress ! 

But all these stories would have lost value to the writer did 
not their narration possess one quality — modesty. To the 
slavery question there was to him only one side — the Northern. 
He believed with his friend, Mr. Lincoln, that all men are 
created free and equal, and to this end he ever worked. He 
was a Republican in politics, but democratic in heart, not 
easily appealed to, but once interested in a cause he remained 
firm to the end. 

Of his business life I need say little. There are those who 
knew him in this capacity better than I ; but of him an old 
business friend said to me : "Mr. Hartley was a shrewd, but an 
honest business man ; you knew where to find him, and so 
knew how to approach him." 

Mr. Hartley allowed no dictation ; his conscience governed 
his thought and actions. Questions of church, of charities 
private and pubHc, as well as questions of business, appealed 
to him only as they appealed through his conscience. Senti- 
ment and public notoriety played no part. He gave of his 
purse and of his time in the most unostentatious way. In so 
doing, he filled a place in the hearts and lives of many men, 
who to-day mourn his loss, but who cherish, and ever will 
cherish, his memory. 



APPENDIX 109 



A Poem by Miss Aline Chester White, in the 
'^New York Observer'' 

A CALM and holy light is breaking 
Through the darkened sunset sky, 

And a life now fully ended 
Has ascended upon high. 

His was one of noble action 

In the noonday and the heat, 
Filled he all of life's great duties. 

Leaves it perfect, all complete. 

Filled with modest grace and sweetness, 
Without trouble, toil, or pain, 

Soared his soul to worlds unknown. 
And our loss becomes his gain. 

See, his light is gently shedding 
Radiant beams upon each one, 

And to us the words are borne. 

That his work has been " well done." 

Lo ! his life work now all ended, 

Ready for his great reward ; 
With a smile upon his lips 

His soul ascended to its Lord. 



II 



RESOLUTIONS AND 

MINUTES OF CORPORATIONS WITH WHICH 

MR. HARTLEY WAS CONNECTED 

The Association for Improving the 
Condition of the Poor 

MINUTE 

In entering upon their records mention of the death of the late 
Marcellus Hartley, the Board of Managers cannot but recall 
that he came fairly by the qualities which made his name 
everywhere respected. His father, the first secretary of this 
Association and to all intents and purposes its founder, illus- 
trated all through his official life the same quaHties which, 
later on, gave the younger Hartley his good name. Keenness 
of insight, thoroughness of method, absolute integrity of pur- 
pose, were characteristic of both of them ; and although in 
lives of father and son, the respective fields upon which these 
characteristics were illustrated were widely different, we may 
trace the successful careers of both men to one and the same 
source. 

To the memory of Robert Milham Hartley, the naming of 
Hartley House was a deserved tribute, while for the mainte- 
nance of the activities of that institution and the extending of 
its borders, we are largely indebted to the wise generosity and 
timely counsel of our late associate. 

no 



APPENDIX III 

At a critical period in the history of the nation, Marcellus 
Hartley rendered his country a service which can never be for- 
gotten ; but it may be questioned whether from that achieve- 
ment he himself drew any deeper satisfaction than came to him 
in his latest years from watching over and fostering the work 
founded in his father's name. Alike as a patriot and as a prac- 
tical philanthropist, he has left a record of which those who 
were honored by his friendship may be justly proud. 

I hereby certify that the above is a true copy of the 
minute adopted by the Board of Managers at the regu- 
lar meeting held February 17th, 1902. 

L. E. Opdycke, 

Secretary. 



The Westinghotise Electric and Manufacturing 
Company 

Whereas, Marcellus Hartley, a member of the Board of 
Direction of this Company for more than ten years, died on 
January 8th, 1902, therefore 

Resolved : The Board of Directors desires to bear testimony 
to the value of Mr. Hartley as a brother director. The long 
term of Mr. Hartley's service included the period during which 
a re-organization of the Company had to be effected, under cir- 
cumstances of great financial difficulty, with impaired resources, 
and in the midst of a well nigh unprecedented business depres- 
sion. 

Throughout that trying experience there was no person con- 
nected with the Company in any capacity of greater service to 
it than Mr. Hartley. His courage ever rose to the occasion ; 
and it was always during periods of greatest stress that his 
presence in the Board was most indispensable. From first to 



112 APPENDIX 

last, by his business experience and sagacity, his sound judg- 
ment and large resources, he contributed potently to the pres- 
ervation and development of the property and the protection 
and profit of its stock-holders. The loss this Board and the 
Company have sustained through his death is one which it can 
hardly be hoped w^ill be made good. 

The other directors deem it proper formally to record this 
evidence of the estimation in v^^hich Mr. Hartley was held by 
them, of the service he rendered, and of their sense of the loss 
incurred through his death. 

Resolved, That this vote be entered in full on the records of 
the Board, and the Secretary be instructed to send an engrossed 
copy thereof to the family of Mr. Hartley, indicative of the 
sympathy felt in their loss by his business associates. 

At a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Westinghouse 
Electric and Manufacturing Company held at New York, Jan- 
uary 23rd, 1902, the foregoing resolutions were unanimously 
adopted. 

George Westinghouse, 

President. 

Brayton Ives, 

Chairman. 

Charles Francis Adams^ 
August Belmont 
Anthony N. Brady 
N. Willis Bumsted 
George W. Hebard 

T. ^^ TT TT,.^^ ) Directors. 

James H. Hyde 
Frank H. Taylor 
George C. Smith 
B. H. Warren 
H. H. Westinghouse 

Charles A. Terry, 

Secretary. 



APPENDIX 113 

The Manhattan Railway Company 

At a meeting of the Directors of the Manhattan Railway Com- 
pany, held on Tuesday, a copy of the following resolutions 
was ordered to be sent to the family of the late Marcellus 
Hartley : 

Marcellus Hartley has gone to his well-earned rest. He 
died in the full enjoyment of life, in the midst of his activities, 
with usefulness unimpaired. The Hght of his intelligence did 
not fade slowly and fiickeringly, but was suddenly quenched, 
with its brightness undiminished. 

Apart from the shock to friends and to those who stood 
closest to him, thus suddenly and dreadfully bereaved, it is a 
happy ending that leaves no memory behind but that of com- 
plete and unimpaired intellectual power. 

The life thus rudely ended was one that had been freely 
used in the service of others, and, for that reason, productive 
of happiness to its possessor. Gifted by nature with energy, 
discernment, industry, and integrity, possessed of a moral 
nature that kept his high order of intelligence always on the 
side of the right, Marcellus Hartley was necessarily a success- 
ful man in his business life, and largely benefited by the ex- 
ercise of his talents. He was not content, however, with using 
his great abilities and the material resources they brought him, 
merely in the service of himself and those immediately depen- 
dent upon him. 

While yet a comparatively young man, the needs of his 
country during the Civil War called for the successful use of 
his abihties in foreign service of a deHcate and highly impor- 
tant character. 

During his entire life as Director in corporations, as adviser 
of those who sought his counsel, his time, his energies, and his 
thoughts were freely given in the service of others and in 
directions where his private interests were small indeed com- 
pared to his gifts of time and careful thought. 



114 APPENDIX 

His private as well as his public charities stamped him as 
one who loved his fellow-man, and who realized that the road 
to personal happiness was most surely trodden by him whose 
thoughts were given to smoothing for others the ruggedness 
of life's paths. His cheerfulness and buoyancy of disposition 
enlivened the dry details of business life, and his wise and 
penetrating intelligence never failed to further discussion in 
the direction of safe conclusion. 

The Directors of the Manhattan Railway Company realize 
that they have lost a valued associate, a sagacious counsellor, 
and a personal friend, and hereby make record of their sense 
of loss and of their deep sympathy with the bereaved ones from 
whom Marcellus Hartley has been thus suddenly taken away. 



The America7i Surety Company of New York 

At a regular quarterly meeting of the Board of Trustees of 
the American Surety Company of New York, held Wed- 
nesday, January 15, 1902, the following minute was pre- 
sented by Mr. William A. Wheelock, and unanimously 
adopted : 

In the sudden death of Mr. Marcellus Hartley, not only the 
American Surety Company, of whose Executive Committee 
he was an active member, but every institution in our city 
with whose interests he was identified have experienced a loss 
which cannot be estimated. 

Failure with him in any department of business life, was 
never to be predicated of anything to which he gave his con- 
fidence, his time, and his personality. 

The history of our city, for the last fifty years of its active 



APPENDIX 115 

and marvellous improvements, would not be complete without at 
least a partial record of his active career, and no one can ever 
know how many thriving and now prosperous industries are 
indebted to his bold and courageous help, in the time of al- 
most despair, when, in his masterful way, he spoke the word 
which brought relief, and assured success. 

Unassuming always, he rather shrank from than courted 
prominence, and in all the daily cares of his busy life he passed 
in and out before his associates in his tireless round of duty, 
ever calm and deliberate, until, touched by the hand of death 
in our very presence, he passed in a moment from our sight, 
consecrating, as it were, the spot in which, as associates, we 
had so often met. 

His life is one long eulogy, and we enter this minute upon 
our records, conveying to the family of our deceased friend, 
our most sincere condolence in this hour of their bereavement. 

David B. Sickels, 

Vice-President. 



The Western National Bank 

At a regular meeting of the Board of Directors of the Western 
National Bank, held on Wednesday, the fifteenth of January, 
Nineteen hundred and two, the following preamble and 
resolution was unanimously adopted : 

Whereas, the sudden death of our associate, Marcellus Hart- 
ley, on the eighth day of January entails a loss to this bank 
which it would be difficult to measure. 

For many years past Mr. Hartley has been an active direc- 
tor, and more recently one of the Vice-Presidents of the 



ii6 APPENDIX 

Bank. As was his habit in regard to all enterprises with which 
he was connected, he kept himself constantly informed of the 
operations of the institution, and lent to it his valuable experi- 
ence, industry, and financial skill. He took an earnest part in 
the proceedings of the Executive Committee, and was ever 
ready to lend the weight of his character, credit, means, and 
talents to the building up of an enterprise which has now 
assumed proportions and reached a firm condition recognized 
by all observers. 

Resolved, That the Board of Directors of the Western National 
Bank do hereby record their profound grief at the removal of 
so useful and devoted a friend. 

Resolved, That the minute be entered on the records of the 
Bank as a sincere, though inadequate, expression of the senti- 
ments of this Board, and that a copy of the same be sent to 
the family of the deceased. 



The Mercantile Trust Company 

At a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Mercantile 
Trust Company, held on Wednesday, January 15th, 1902, 
the following resolution was adopted : 

Resolved, That the death of Mr. Marcellus Hartley has 
brought to the members of this Board a deep sorrow for the 
loss of one whom all had learned to honor and cherish. 

Mr. Hartley first became a Director of the Company in De- 
cember, 1 88 1, and from that time has always been one of its 
ablest advisers and strongest supporters. 

Mr. Hartley was elected a member of the Examining Com- 
mittee in November, 1881, and of the Executive Committee 
of the Board of Directors in September, 1884, and has since 



APPENDIX 117 

been most earnest in his zeal for the growth and prosperity of 
the Company. 

We deeply mourn our loss and sincerely sympathize with the 
family in their affliction. 

Ernest R. Adee, 

Secretary. 



The International Banking Corporation 

At a meeting of the Board of Directors of the International 
Banking Corporation, held in the City of New York on Wed- 
nesday, January twenty-second. Nineteen Hundred and two, 
the following resolution was unanimously adopted and an 
engrossed copy ordered to be sent to Mr. Hartley's family. 

An all wise Providence having taken from this life our honored 
and esteemed friend, the President of this Corporation, Mr. Mar- 
cellus Hartley, we take this occasion to convey to his bereaved 
family our heartfelt sympathy. 

We are grateful that we were permitted to know him and to 
work with him. 

Having long since chosen the Christian life as the ideal one, 
he gave himself heartily to all forms of activity and loved es- 
pecially to be identified with undertakings that would be of 
benefit to this community and to his loved country. 

In the midst of his work, while " his eye was not dim, nor 
his natural force abated " and in the act of speaking kindly 
words, his final summons came. 

His was an ideal life and in many respects an ideal death. 

Thomas H. Hubbard, Eugene Delano, 

James W. Alexander, J. M. Ceballos, 

Abram S. Hewitt, H. E. Manning, 

V. P. Snyder, Edward F. Cragin. 

John I. McCook. 



ii8 APPENDIX 

The Lincoln National Bank of the 
City of New York 

New York, January i6th, 1902. 
The Board of Directors has learned with feelings of deep re- 
gret of the sudden death of Marcellus Hartley, for eleven years 
a director of this Institution. 

The Board desires to place upon record its appreciation of 
the high character, great abihty, and sterling integrity of the 
deceased and to extend to his bereaved family its deepest sym- 
pathy at this time of their great affliction. 

Resolved, That a copy of this minute, properly engrossed, be 
sent to the family of the deceased. 

Thomas L. James, 

President. 

William T. Cornell, 

Cashier. 



The Fifth Avenue Trust Company 

At a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Fifth Avenue 
Trust Company, held on February eleventh, Nineteen hun- 
dred and Two, the following minute was unanimously 
adopted : 

Mr. Gerry oflfered the following as a minute to be spread 
upon the record of the Company. 

This Board has learned with great sorrow of the sudden 
death of its valued member, Marcellus Hartley, who, as one 
of the founders of the Company, and from its inception a 
member of the Executive Committee, has freely given his time 
and counsel to our interests. We record here our appreciation 
of his service. His long and useful career in mercantile and 
financial affairs in this city, his knowledge of credits and values, 



APPENDIX 119 

his zeal in the interests of every corporation to which he lent 
his name, his singular punctuality and attention in the per- 
formance of his duties, and his uniform modesty and courtesy 
form the framework of his outward life, while his strength of 
character, his unswerving integrity in purpose and action, his 
patriotic feeling, his devotion to good works for mankind, and 
his sense of duty to every trust committed to his care, portray 
the friend and associate whose memory we cherish and whose 
loss we mourn. 

The American Deposit ajid Loan Company 

At a regular meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Ameri- 
can Deposit and Loan Company, held on Tuesday, January 
fourteenth. Nineteen Hundred and Two, the following reso- 
lution was unanimously adopted : 

Resolved, That this Board desires to record the great loss 
which it has sustained in the death of its late member, Mar- 
cellus Hartley. 

He was highly esteemed by his business associates for his 
wide and accurate information, his prudence, sound judgment, 
great integrity, and genial character. 

This Board, in particular, will miss his wise advice and devo- 
tion to its interests. 

Board of Trustees. 

James H. Hyde, George W. Jenkins, 

Edward H. Harriman, Otto H. Kahn, 

G. E. Tarbell, J. Henry Smith, 

George H. Squire, Charles B. Alexander, 

H. M. Alexander, Bainbridge Colby, 

Wm. H. McIntyre, Henry Rogers Winthrop, 

V. P. Snyder, Bradish Johnson, 

Thomas H. Hubbard, Louis Fitzgerald, 

William Alexander. 



I20 APPENDIX 

The German American Bank 

At a meeting of the German American Bank, held on Jan- 
uary fourteenth, Nineteen Hundred and Two, the following 
resolutions were unanimously adopted. 

Whereas^ It has pleased Providence to remove from our midst 
and from his sphere of usefulness Marcellus Hartley, our late 
associate in this Board, therefore — 

Resolved, That in the death of Mr. Hartley this Board mourns 
the loss of one whose character and ability always commanded 
our highest admiration and confidence. 

Resolved, That we tender to his widow and family our heart- 
felt sympathies for this great affliction they have been called 
upon to sustain. 

Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be forwarded to 
the family of the deceased and be entered upon our minutes. 

Casimir Tag, 

President. 

J. F. Fredericks, 

Cashier. 



The Audit Company of New York 

At a special meeting of the Audit Company of New York, 
held to-day, the following resolutions were adopted. 

Whereas, The death of Marcellus Hartley has deprived this 
Company of a valued and esteemed Director: be it 

Resolved, That we sincerely lament the loss which has be- 
fallen the community from the death of a most useful citizen, 
whose many years were full of examples of untiring endeavor, 



APPENDIX 121 

earnest patriotism, broad charity, and kindly personal con- 
sideration of all with whom he was associated ; and be it further 
Resolved, That a copy of this resolution, with the signatures 
attached thereto, be sent to the bereaved family. 

August Belmont, A. J. Cassatt, 

Joseph S. Auerbach. W. A. Nash, 

John I. Waterbury, James Stillman, 

Charles R. Flint, G. G. Haven, 

George Harvey, G. W. Young. 

New York, January lo, 1902. 



The Remington Arms Company 

At a meeting of the employees of the Remington Arms 
Company, held in the Village Hall, Friday evening, January 
loth, 1902, the following resolutions were adopted: 

Whereas, the employees of the Remington Arms Company 
learn with regret of the sudden death of Marcellus Hartley, 
the esteemed president of this Company and, 

Whereas, the loss sustained by the commercial world in gen- 
eral and particularly by the corporations with which he has 
been closely connected will be deeply felt and his place among 
the great financiers of the country will be filled with difficulty, — 
Resolved, That we tender our sincere and heartfelt sympathy 
to the members of Mr. Hartley's family in their deep bereave- 
ment. 

James A. Whitfield, 
L. N. Walker, 
Alonzo A. Rivers, 

Committee. 
Ilion, New York, January loth, 1902. 



122 APPENDIX 

The Gun and Sporting Goods Trade 

At a special meeting of the Gun and Sporting Goods Trade, 
held January tenth, Nineteen Hundred and Two, the follow- 
ing minute was adopted. 

In obedience to the omnipotent decree, in a moment as in 
the " twinkling of an eye," Marcellus Hartley has been called 
from us. 

His name has been associated with all our business under- 
takings. 

For many years he has stood forth clearly as the leading 
figure in the trade to which nearly all his life was devoted, and 
from which the many various enterprises that sought his coun- 
sel in later years were not able to weaken his allegiance. 

His indomitable will, ceaseless energy, and untiring persever- 
ance make a standard to which few can attain. 

His integrity of character, faithfulness of purpose, largeness 
of view, and keenness of discernment made him more and more 
sought as a leader and advisor. 

Until the last moment of his life he was a man of affairs. 

In recognition of his worth we desire to record this tribute 
of honor, regard, and esteem. 

U. T. HUNGERFORD, 

Chairman. 

Joseph Gales, 

Secretary. 



U. T. HUNGERFORD BRASS ) U. T. HUNGERFORD, 

& Copper Co., > President. 

T. G. Bennett, 
Winchester Repeating ( President. 

Arms Co., ( g. E. Hodson, 

Vice-president. 



APPENDIX 123 

A. G. Spalding & Bros., J. W. Curtiss, 

Secretary. 

The H. & D. Folsom ) Henry T. Folsom, 

Arms Co., 3 President. 

Von Lengerke & Detmold, 

A. H. FUNKE, 

J. H. Lau & Co., 

M. W. Robinson Co., R. M. Nesbith, 

President. 

Charles J. Godfrey, 

The Iver-Johnson Arms & Cycle Works, 

Tower & Lyon, 

William M. Odell, 

George G. Moore, 

William P. Howell, 

H. H. KlFFE, 

William M. Cornwall, 

JESPERSEN & HiNES, 

H. Werlemann, 

SCHOVERLING, DaLY & GaLES. CHARLES HOWARD DaLY, 

Secretary. 



Ill 



EDITORIAL COMMENT ON MR. HARTLEY'S 

DEATH 

From the ''New York Times " 

Marcellus Hartley 

Stricken at the council-table in the performance of deliber- 
ative and advisory duties for which his long experience and 
remarkable powers of sound judgment gave him so high a 
degree of fitness, Marcellus Hartley may be said to have died 
as the wise man might wish to die : not after a period of pain 
and in weakness, but with the harness on, in the fullness of 
his powers, and in attendance upon his daily tasks. For the 
friends of Mr. Hartley there is also consoling force in the 
reflection that, measured either by achievements, or by the 
reputation, the distinction, and the public and private esteem 
he had won, his life was an unusually full one. 

No man in the history of affairs in this city of Mr. Hartley's 
wide range of activities, real power, and recognized influence 
was ever more modest and unassuming. Quite unknown to 
the multitudes who saw him every day, and by strong personal 
disinclination a stranger to the arts by which public fame is 
acquired, Mr. Hartley was, and for more than a quarter of a 
century has been, one of the strong and influential figures in 
the financial circles of New York. His judgment was valued 

124 



APPENDIX 125 

and his advice sought by men who are themselves of com- 
manding importance. He was, indeed, one of the surest and 
wisest counselors in all commercial and investment undertak- 
ings. Forty years ago, when Mr. Hartley was a young man, 
the United States Government intrusted to him the perform- 
ance of a task of the utmost difficulty and delicacy, calling for 
the exercise of a riper judgment and surer discretion than 
most men have developed at the age of thirty-five. It has 
been told, though perhaps it is not widely known, that during 
the Civil War he was sent to Europe with millions to his credit, 
instructed by the government to purchase arms and munitions 
of war in order to forestall the purchase of them by the agents 
of the Confederacy who had been sent over on the same 
errand ; and the confidence which his government had reposed 
in him was fully justified by the success of his mission. 

The business ability displayed by Mr. Hartley was only one 
of the qualities of character by which he commanded respect. 
His gifts and benefactions reached an annual sum of which no 
one had knowledge, unless it were himself, and he was cer- 
tainly one of those men whose left hand did not know the 
good his right was doing. Of Hartley House and of the work 
it accomplishes for the relief of the poor the public has infor- 
mation through annual reports, but we think the major part of 
Mr. Hartley's giving was private and unrecorded. If it be the 
rule that the management of large affairs tends to hardness of 
heart, Mr. Hartley was a splendid exception. Many men en- 
joyed his friendship, his advice, his encouragement, and his as- 
sistance, and we venture to say that none of them will aver that 
they ever had a friend more true, loyal, and unselfish. It was 
a warm and full heart that beat in his bosom. 

Such a man is an element of strength and safety in any com- 
munity. The influence which naturally belongs to men of 
large means he wielded always in a way to set an example of 
prudence and wise conservatism. He was the guide of men 
less self-reliant, but not into dangerous paths or unwarrantable 



126 APPENDIX 

ventures. Mr. Hartley will be most seriously missed and his 
loss will be felt among those who met him, trusted him, and 
dealt with him in the daily round of affairs. He will be sin- 
cerely mourned by those who, through their knowledge of 
the noble and kindly qualities of his character, had come to 
feel for him real esteem and affection. 



From the ** Commercial Advertiser " 

Mr. Hartley's abilities, services, and sterling personal qual- 
ities won for him the esteem and admiration of the strong, able 
men with whom he was daily thrown into contact. In the 
higher world of finance he enjoyed an exalted reputation. But 
fame as it has fallen to many less worthy he never had. To 
the great multitude he was unknown. His name to the gen- 
eral public, if it meant anything, brought but dim remem- 
brance and vague recognition. Mr. Hartley was one of those 
great men — for endowments such as his, applied as he applied 
them, warrant the appellation — who do their work quietly, 
unostentatiously, who are famous only among the famous. 

For fame, in the popular sense, Mr. Hartley cared nothing. 
The path to that sort of distinction was opened to him, and he 
turned his face from it. He was often besought by leading 
men in his party (he was a Republican) to take an active part 
in politics. His native courage and sound judgment, his tact, 
his skill in dealing with men, his foresight, were recognized by 
the men of influence who knew him. These men saw in 
him great possibilities of political leadership, of political pre- 
ferment. But Mr. Hartley steadfastly said no to them all. 
He preferred to devote himself to business, to great commer- 
cial and financial enterprises, and to charity. He was a genu- 
inely modest, unassuming man. 



APPENDIX 127 

His characteristics in that respect were shown most notably 
in his charities. Every year he gave away great sums of money. 
How much his donations amounted to annually no one knew 
but himself, and his individual gifts were known only inciden- 
tally. Mr. Hartley was literally content in his works of benefi- 
cence not to let his right hand know what his left hand did. 

His career furnishes a striking example of the power of con- 
centration, of complete mastery of a subject, as the first essen- 
tial of great success. Mr. Hartley, when just out of school, 
entered the counting-room of a leading firm of gun-importers. 
Before long he was an expert on firearms. He knew his sub- 
ject not only on its commercial but also on its technical side, 
and when he was only thirty-five years of age he was selected 
by Mr. Stanton, President Lincoln's Secretary of War, for the 
important and responsible position of government agent in 
Europe, with plenary powers. His mission was to buy fire- 
arms from the foreign manufacturers for the Union army. 
There was no question as to his equipment for that task alone. 
But his mission was more than a merely commercial one. He 
was in a real sense committed to a diplomatic service. He 
was to outwit the agents of the Confederate Government, and 
win sympathy, much needed, for the Union cause. No small 
task was that for a young man of thirty-five. That Mr. Hart- 
ley succeeded brilliantly in his mission shows that his judg- 
ment was extraordinarily matured, and his finesse and tact 
highly developed. 

In the financial world Mr. Hartley was known as one whose 
advice might well be taken by the most astute, as one on whom 
the strongest might lean in troublous times, as one who, al- 
though possessing in the highest degree courage and self-re- 
liance, might always be found on the side of conservatism and 
prudence. Dealing daily with large propositions of finance, 
deciding questions involving dollars alone, he lost none of his 
human, kindly qualities. He was trusted, esteemed, regarded 
with affection by all those who knew him. 



128 APPENDIX 

From the " Christian Work'' 

General Marcellus Hartley 

Marcellus Hartley, who passed away in this city on Wed- 
nesday of last week, was not only a most successful man of 
business, engaged in many departments of business activity, 
but he was a man of beneficent impulses — deliberate purpose, 
rather — and gave freely to many beneficent institutions, as he 
was also an active participant in the management of not a few. 
Mr. Hartley, too, was a pronounced patriot. At a critical 
time during our Civil War he went abroad and secured arms 
for our army, which if any one else could have done, no one, it 
is safe to say, could have done so well. Not only so, but he 
refused any and all compensation for himself or his firm, and 
for this act of patriotism President Lincoln made him a 
brigadier-general. Perhaps no one has indulged in more char- 
itable acts than Mr. Hartley; and it is certain none could 
have been more unostentatious in their bestowment. Notwith- 
standing his multiplied business interests — he was president 
or director of some fifteen great corporations — Mr. Hartley's 
heart and mind were deeply fastened upon the claims of charity. 
Especially noticeable is the Hartley Home, initiated by him, 
and placed under the management of the New York Associa- 
tion for the Improvement of the Condition of the Poor, the in- 
stitution being named after the father of the deceased philan- 
thropist. Among the other charitable institutions fostered by 
Mr. Hartley, all of which owe their existence in part to the 
work of a member of the Hartley family, are the Society for 
the Relief of Ruptured and Crippled Children, the Presbyterian 
Hospital, and the Association for the Improvement of the Con- 
dition of the Poor. Because of his unostentation few men saw 
their names less frequently in the public prints than he ; but 
none the less was he known all through New York circles of 
business and benevolence as one of New York's foremost citi- 



APPENDIX 129 

zens. No one, too, enjoyed more the rest and the seclusion of 
family life than he ; and those who have come in contact with 
him at all to know him will mourn the loss of one possessing 
noble qualities of head and heart which found expression in per- 
sonal activities. Siste Viator / Well has Sir Thomas Browne 
exclaimed, " Our very life is but a dream, and while we look 
around eternity is at hand." 



IV 



EXTRACTS FROM 

MR. HARTLEY'S CORRESPONDENCE 

DURING THE CIVIL WAR 

Note. — During the nine months that Mr. Hartley was in Europe, in 1862 and 
1863, in the service of the United States Government, he wrote a vast number 
of letters. These are wholly on business affairs, to various manufacturers, to 
his agents, to his bankers, and, as a rule, they possess little interest to the reader. 
Among them, however, those to Secretary Stanton, of which there are twenty-five 
or thirty, and to other persons in high place, stand out as possessing a more than 
passing interest; they deal with more general questions of policy and with busi- 
ness details of greater moment. A few of those are included in the text of 
Chapter V. They are here supplemented by some further correspondence of the 
same sort, introduced with the purpose, not of giving any complete account of Mr. 
Hartley's doings, but of showing the various aspects of his work. 

No. 9. 

Berlin, October 7, 1862. 
Sir : 

My last was under date of the first instant from Cologne. I 
have nothing from you since your three favors of the twelfth 
ulto. — No. 6. I have just received a telegram that the addi- 
tional £\^o,ooQ> credit has arrived, making ;^38o,ooo in all, 
but they all expire on the first of November. Please lose no 
time in extending them until such time beyond the tenth of 
December as in your judgment you may require me. You 
will pardon me if I suggest here that it is our right course to 
secure all arms here in Europe, in order that the South may 
not obtain them. They are purchasing largely, and wherever 

130 



APPENDIX 131 

they can find arms they purchase, paying but Httle attention 
to price as long as they can obtain them. They are endeavor- 
ing to purchase Enfields. Some of our Birmingham makers 
have refused to deliver at less than 53/. The London makers 
have refused to continue after the first of November at the 
old price, saying they have been offered more. I refused to 
listen to an advance, but, since my journey among the dif- 
ferent arms manufactories on the Continent, I find that the 
Confederates are making all efforts to secure a large quantity 
of arms, and I have written to the London manufacturers and 
requested Mr. Tomes to obtain the refusal until my return of 
all they can make until the first of December at their price, as 
by that time I hope to find out positively if they have a bona 
fide offer for more than I am paying, and, if so and the offer is 
from the South, I certainly shall be justified in paying it. So 
in regard to Birmingham, if their agents are in the market, I 
think it the part of wisdom to make contracts with the Bir- 
mingham manufacturers at such prices as I can get them to 
sign, binding them down. They would not sign contracts at 
45/, and the most of them even at 50/, as they all had been 
caught so often they preferred to take the chance of the mar- 
ket. Therefore I think if the South has agents purchasing 
arms, if I can make contracts with the manufacturers to bind 
them, at prices exceeding your limits, I think it my duty to 
prevent the arms falling into their hands. 

At Liege I purchased ready-made and entirely new arms : 

C. Dandoy . . 400 French Rifled Muskets, 3^, 

with implements and extra 

cones — packing boxes no 

charge 37 fr- 

120 ditto, ditto. No. 2 . . . . 43 fr. 

B. M. Tambeur) j.,^ ,.,, T^-r r ' Ui. 

> 2200 ditto, ditto, No. 2, freight 

Freres > -J ^ A ^ 1 • 

paid to Antwerp — packing 

boxes 8 fr 46.75 fr. 



132 APPENDIX 

Association ) ^ooo Piedmontese Rifled Muskets, 

extra cones, implements ; 
freight free to Antwerp, 

boxes 8 fr 48 fr. 

1500 French Rifled Muskets, with 
implements as above ; freight 
free to Antwerp, boxes 8 fr. 39 fr. 
800 ditto, with elevated sights . 42.50 fr, 

Louis Muller 3500 French Rifled Muskets, in- 
tended for the Italian Gov- 
ernment, all ready for ship- 
ment 46 fr. 

The above were all made and will be shipped in two weeks, as 
soon as extra cones and implements can be made. I also 
ordered 8000 of the same kind from the Association, Dandoy 
and Mr. Muller to be ready by the first of November of either 
quality, they to inform me when the lots are ready for pur- 
chasing. 

That makes in all ordered in Liege of 69/100, 18,520 — all 
of which will leave Europe on or before, say, the fifth of 
November. 

You will be informed from Birmingham weekly how many 
are shipped and the amount of drafts. 

In Vienna I purchased 20,000 blue barrel with angular bay- 
onet, leaf sight, 58/100, and 10,000 bright barrel with angular 
bayonet, leaf sight, 54/100 — including for each case of 20 guns 
10 ball screws, 20 combined wrenches, and 20 extra cones at 
26 florins — say 53 francs. The arms are all entirely new, but 
will have to be carefully inspected and packed, as there is no 
dependence to be placed upon any of the manufacturers. It 
will take at least six weeks to ship them all. 

I found on arrival in Vienna that Boker had the refusal, or, 
in other words, the control of the arms. I obtained possession 
of them by agreeing to pay him 40 kreuzers, or about $16 



APPENDIX 133 

per gun, he paying all expenses, delivered at the railroad. He 
will have to pay for packing-boxes, viewing (a house will have 
to be obtained), and banker's commission, which is one-half 
per cent. All is under the supervision of my Springfield in- 
spector. It is the best arrangement I could make, and under 
the circumstances very fortunate that he was there, for I should 
have had to employ some one — a commission house would not 
have done it except for a commission, and I should be afraid 
to trust them ; my bankers could not do it, and under the cir- 
cumstances it was very fortunate, as I cannot remain there. 

I found that Moses and Co., a London house with a Captain 
or Colonel Hughes, had purchased 50,000 bright barrel Aus- 
trian guns, 54/100 caliber, no leaf sight, from the Austrian 
government about three weeks since at 26.75 florins, and Mr. 
Martin of the above firm is now in Vienna attending to the 
shipment of them. They were in treaty for those I purchased, 
and no doubt would have purchased them in a little time. The 
Austrian government refuse to sell any more for the present, 
but Mr. Truberth, the manufacturer from whom I purchased 
the arms, the controller of all the manufactories, informs me 
that when the different contractors make deliveries of the 
" new arm " the government will no doubt sell more, but it 
will be some two or three months. He has promised to obtain 
from the government the refusal of the next lot and inform me. 

The South purchased 30,000 in the spring, and now 50,000 
more. I was informed in London that samples of the Prussian 
guns were offered there to the South and they thought of pur- 
chasing. On inquiry I found that Hughes was temporarily 
absent from Vienna, and thinking that he might be here, I 
started Sunday for this place. The government here offer 
50,000 rifled Prussian guns, caliber 72/100, nipples too large, — 
in other respects it is a good gun, — at 10 Prussian thalers 
(about $7). They have already three offers for them, — one 
from Hamburg, — but I cannot find out who is offering. 

I have carefully inspected the guns and would not hesitate 



134 APPENDIX 

one minute if they were the proper caliber. You instruct me 
to purchase 69/100 if I cannot obtain smaller, but if 69/100 
cannot be obtained you leave it to my judgment to purchase 
such arms as are serviceable. These arms are serviceable, but 
the bore is the objection. If I allow them to pass now the 
South will have them. They can be used by the militia, and 
in an emergency by regular troops. The price, 10 thalers, is 
rather high. They are not worth, at the outside, over $6. Shall 
I purchase at $7 or not? I have to decide to-morrow. I am a 
little perplexed. They are scattered in eleven different arsenals 
throughout Prussia. I shall have to have packing-boxes made, 
employ inspectors and viewers for each place — 100,000 thalers 
to be paid down as a guarantee, the balance at each arsenal on 
delivery of each lot of guns. Personally I cannot attend to all 
of it. My Springfield inspector has all he can attend to at 
Vienna. It would be impossible to have the cones altered here. 
It would have to be done in New York. All these things are 
against the arms. Yet I still think it my duty to secure 
them. The arms, I find, cannot be purchased except by a 
Prussian subject. This I may arrange with my bankers. I 
think it advisable to go to one or two of the arsenals — say 
Stettin and Magdeburg, the nearest — and see the condition 
they are in before I make an offer. 

I now feel the want of more inspectors and trustworthy 
men. I do not know where to obtain them. 

I do not know at present of any more arms of any amount 
to be obtained in Europe. 

I have written to my house in Paris to call upon the French 
authorities and see if they can or will dispose of any, but there 
is but little probability of doing anything there. There are 
some Garibaldis in Hamburg, but they are very inferior. They 
no doubt will now be sent to New York on speculation. 

If I purchase these 50,000 Prussians, the amount purchased 
by me will be, say, 18,000 in Liege, 30,000 in Vienna, 50,000 
in Berhn — 98,000 in all. 



APPENDIX 135 

I send this letter to-night and will endeavor to inform you 
by same steamer, if possible, in regard to the 50,000. 

Yours respectfully, 

Marcellus Hartley. 
To Hon. E. M. Stanton. 

In reading this letter over, I refer to the Confederates being 
in treaty for the 30,000 purchased in Vienna, implying that as 
Boker had the control of them he was the party. They were 
in treaty with Truberth before Boker. Mr. B. informed me 
that they, Mr. Martin of Moses and Co., had offered them a 
price for some Garibaldis, but he refused to sell any arms that 
might go directly or indirectly to the Confederates. 



Berlin, October 7, 1862. 
Mr. C. W. May, 
My dear Sir : 

I am in receipt of your letter of the 2d inst., as well as that 
of the 1st at Liege. My object in now writing is to request 
you, if possible, to find some one who can obtain some arms 

from the French Minister of War. I thought of B , but he 

may think that he might make political capital and write direct 
to Washington. He would not do, as he holds an official posi- 
tion under our government ; and the French government, being 
neutral, would not have anything to do with him. 

You had better see the minister yourself, and in your own 
name ask him if he will sell any of their arms, and if he will 
not, call upon Mr. Poirier, the old gentleman, and get him to 
see the emperor and let him purchase in his own name, or 
rather see what can be done — how many, price, etc., and 
description. 

Do not say a word to any one about it. Do not take any 
one's advice about employing B , as it cannot be done 



136 APPENDIX 

through him. Move quickly. Do not send me any letters 
with our business stamp upon them. I will inform you where 
next to write me. Much obliged to Mr. Morgan for his kind- 

"^^^- Yours truly, 

M. Hartley. 

No. lo. 

Berlin, October 8, 1862. 

Sir : 

I wrote you from this place yesterday, I have just returned 
from Stettin, where I saw 12,000 of the Prussian rifled 72/100 
guns. They are all in good order, nine-tenths of them having 
never been used. I have concluded to purchase them, and have 
made an offer of 8 Thl., 5 Sil. gr. They ask ten thalers. I have 
so arranged it if they refuse I can know what will buy them. It 
will take two weeks to have cases made and have them packed 
at Stettin. If I succeed in obtaining them, — and I have little 
doubt but I shall obtain them, — it will take at least three weeks 
to pack them — say four weeks before they are all shipped. 
The nipples will have to be fixed in New York. They all have 
ball screws, but no wrenches; those you will have to have 
made in New York. 

I examined their cartridge at the arsenal, and if I could judge 
from appearances, I should say that the ball which they use is 
not larger than our 69/100, and appeared to be lighter. The 
concave runs nearly to the top, thus making the ball a mere 
shell. They use an iron cup in the cavity, but the officers said 
it was of no use, as the powder expanded the ball sufficiently 
to fill the grooves. I send a ball by this mail, with instructions 
to send to you. I am led to make these remarks from what 
you have written in regard to our troops disliking to shoot the 
old 69/100. If I remember right, the Minie ball in our cart- 
ridge for 69/100 caliber is much heavier than the Prussian 



APPENDIX 137 

72/100. Our ball is merely concaved, or rather cupped out 
like the head of a ramrod, thus making the ball much heavier 
than there is any occasion for and using more lead than is nec- 
essary. If the ball was concaved or hollowed out in proportion 
to the Prussian I believe the soldiers would not complain so 
much ; they certainly would not have so much to carry, and 
the balls would not cost so much. I may be wrong, but it 
certainly is worth looking into. 

In some instances I have intended the arms to be forwarded 
without implements and extra cones, but they will be sent in, 
say, seven to ten days afterwards by themselves. I have in- 
structed S. H. & G. to report these things to Captain Crispin. 

The nipples of the Austrian guns will all be fixed on this side, 
and extra cones will be new, similar size to our Springfield. 

Some of the arms shipped from Liege had no elevated 
sights ; it would take from three to four weeks to put them on 
those that were finished and ready for shipment, so I sent 
without sights. Those in hand will all have sights ; there are 
not over 4,000 without elevated sights. 

With the 50,000 Prussian, I shall have purchased, say, 98,000, 
but I shall still purchase, if I can find them, say, 5,000 or 10,000 
good arms. 

The 30,000 Austrian at 53.40 francs will amount to 64,200 
" 50,000 Prussian, say, lothalers 70,000 



;^i 34,200 

If I continue to keep possession of the Enfield market I shall 
want, say, ;^200,ooo more by the loth of December, or, rather, 
at once, as my purchases end on the loth of December. In 
my next I shall be able to give you an account of drafts. 

Please let me know as early as possible your decision in 
regard to the control of the Enfield market after the loth of 
December, 



138 APPENDIX 

If we succeed in shutting off the Confederates from a 
supply of arms, they must succumb. Had we at the start 
monopolized all the arms, — suppose it cost ten millions, twenty 
millions or even more, — where would they have obtained them ? 
If this war is to continue one year, or two, or more, how long 
will the arms they now have last them ? and when they are 
gone, where will they obtain more ? You will pardon me for 
referring to this again, but from the exertions they are now 
making here they will clean the market out, and if so, after 
that we should take care that they do not have any superior 

^^^^- Yours respectfully, 

Marcellus Hartley. 
To Hon. E. M. Stanton. 



No. 12 

LifecE, October i6, 1862. 
Sir : 

My last was dated 14th inst. from Berlin. I arrived here 
this morning. Ten thousand new French rifled 69/100 guns 
have been shipped on the Hainino7iia, to sail 22d inst. from 
Southampton. The steamer Brevien, that was to sail on the 
15th, was withdrawn, being disabled. Five thousand more 
will be ready next week. Prices are advancing here ; it was for- 
tunate that I secured the market as I passed through some two 
weeks since. I have purchased to-day from the Association 
1000 rifled 69/100, ready by the 15th of November, with extra 
cones, freight paid to Antwerp, 42.50 francs, boxes 8 francs, 
Tanner and Co.; 1500 ditto No. i, with implements, extra 
cones, packing-boxes, no charge, by the 14th of November, 
45.50; Louis Muller, 2000 Enfields, with cones and packing- 
boxes, to be delivered weekly all by the ist of December, 65 
francs ; B. M. Tambeur Freres, 2000 Untembery government 



APPENDIX 139 

guns, rifles with sights, implements, cones, and packing-boxes, 
at 40 francs; 10,000 Belgian government muskets, smooth bore 
(but to be rifled), with implements and cones complete, no 
charge for packing-boxes, at 37 francs ; 5000 ditto with sights, 
implements, cases, and cones, no charge, at 40 francs. 

These last 15,000 are government guns, smooth bore, but 
they will be rifled ; 5000 is all I can have sights put on. The 
whole to be shipped in six weeks — making in all 17,500 69/100 
and 2000 Enfields. They are all first-rate guns, and I have 
concluded not to purchase the 20,000 Prussians referred to in 
my last, as those purchased here are superior and will be ready 
for use at once; besides, the 100,000 will nearly be made up; 
the balance I shall find somewhere. The amount now stands : 

In Vienna . . 30,000 

" Berlin . . 30,000 ( 96,000, independent of all 
" LltGE . . 18,500 ( Enfields. 

" Ll^GE, to-day, 17,500 

The party referred to in my letter as having 30,000 69/100 
for sale turns out to be, as I anticipated, a speculator, and the 
probability is, I have purchased to-day here some of the guns 
he offers at 55 francs at 37 francs and 40 francs or 45 francs, etc. 
I wrote you that I had written to my house in Paris in regard to 
obtaining some arms from the French government. I inclose a 
letter from our Mr. May in Paris in regard to it. As my pur- 
chases are nearly full now, I cannot press the matter any fur- 
ther, but if you desire more arms they may be obtained. I told 
him to use Mr. Poirier, of the firm of Poirier Freres, who has 
a house in New York, and who has a contract with the French 
government to supply all the food and stores for the Mexican 
expedition, which he does from New York, and knowing the 
officials and the French emperor, and being a staunch friend, 
he might obtain from them what a stranger could not. I have 
selected the best guns for the order of 100,000 which I could 



I40 APPENDIX 

find. There are other guns offered to me, but being in the 
hands of speculators, I do not follow them up, as it tends only 
to advance the price for the same guns, and at the same time 
I have the refusal of the maker. I go from here to Paris to 
look at some Enfields, — one lot of 2000 at 66 francs, and one lot 
of 700 at 65 francs, — and return to England on Monday. I now 
have some inconvenience in not having my credit extended. 

Inclosed you have memorandum of arms that may be made 
in six months on this side and also what may be offered for sale. 

Yours respectfully, 

Marcellus Hartley. 
To Hon. E. M. Stanton. 

Statement of the number of arms that probably might be 
made at the different factories on the Continent and in Eng- 
land in six months : 

Vienna $10.40 

80,000 In 6 months at, say, 26 florins at 

40 cents $832,000 

The government will sell no more 
until the makers replace what have 
been sold. These arms may be all 
i-Q^ after the first two months. 

Stahl, in Germany $10.50 

15,000 Enfields in 6 months, at, say, 15 

thalers at 70 cents 157,500 

They are now engaged on govern- 
ment contracts. They make arms 
equal to the English. 

Herzberg $11.90 

6,000 Enfields in 6 months, at, say, 17 

thalers, 70 cents 71,400 

_! These are good arms. 

101,000 $1,060,900 



APPENDIX 141 

Brought forward, 
10 r, 000 $1,060,900 

Li^GE : 

30,000 Arms, Enfields and French model 

assorted, at, say, 55 francs at $1 1 . 330,000 
The Association have contracts 
with the English government and 
other governments until next sum- 
mer. 

London : 

50,000 Enfields, at, say, 60/, $14.50 . . 725,000 

Birmingham : 

140,000 Enfields, at, say, 55/, $13.50 . . 1,890,000 

France, St. Etienne: 

20,000 Enfields and French model, at, say, 

60 francs, $12 240,000 



341,000 $4,245,900 

17,050 packing boxes, $2 . 34,100 



$4,280,000 

The different governments of Europe have contracts out for 
arms. The calculation above is independent of such contracts, 
being what can be made besides all government contracts. 
This calculation is the outside amount. 

Statement of second-hand arms that may be offered for 
sale in a few months : 

Prussia: 

Berlin $7.00 

22,000 Rifled j^o at, say, 10 thalers . . $154,000 
Same as the 30,000 purchased. 



142 APPENDIX 

Brought forward, 
22,000 $154,000 

Darmstadt $6.30 

12,000 Rifled ^^Q French model, say, 9 

thalers 75, 600 

These may be off"ered for sale when 
they receive the new arms now con- 
tracted for. 

WiTTENBURG $6.30 

9,000 Rifled j^o French model, say, 9 

thalers 56,700 

When they receive new arms they 
may be sold. 

Bavaria $6.30 

7,000 Rifled j^o French model, say, 9 

thalers 44,100 

When they receive new arms. 

50,000 $330,400 

2,500 packing-boxes, say, $2 . . 5,000 

$335,400 

If the party who has the refusal of the 20,000 Prussians does 
not take them, they will make the number 70,000. 

The English government has a large number of arms that 
it wants to dispose of, but refuses to sell any at present to any 
one. How many, I do not know, but 200,000 at least ; they 
are the old English musket, smooth bore and rifled. She 
probably will not sell while the war lasts. 

The French government has a large number of old arms. 
The emperor has always refused to sell them. 

The Russian government sold over 400,000 arms ; they were 
purchased by a Russian at St. Petersburg. They are very in- 
ferior, comprising carbines, etc., all smooth bores and only fit 
for the ironmonger. 



APPENDIX 143 

Liverpool, October 20, 1862. 

Messrs. Brown, Shipley & Co., 

Liverpool. 
Gentlemen : 

Will you please quietly inquire of Mr. Inman, or from any 
other parties who may be able to furnish a steamer, the price 
per ton they would ask for freight from Hamburg and South- 
ampton to New York if I agreed to furnish a full cargo, and 
also the number of cases a vessel would carry (size of cases 
same as are sent you). Please do it in your own name. The 
Hamburg steamers have just advanced the price to $25, and 
I am willing to take the risk of filling a ship if the price is not 
too much. 

I should want her to leave Hamburg, say, the 5th of Novem- 
ber, and Southampton the 8th inst. 

Please give me full particulars, naming the quantity of cases, 
freight to be paid on this side. 

Yours respectfully, 

Marcellus Hartley. 



Per Steamer /'^m«. No. 15. 

47 Hampton St., 
Birmingham, November 8, 1862. 
Sir: 

My last letter was from this place under date of 25 th of 
October, numbered 14. I am still without any advice of addi- 
tional credit. I hope, however, to receive one by the Asia; 
her letters due here Monday. If not, I shall be obliged to stop 
purchasing in the open market and confine myself to the 
engagements made by me for Enfields at 69/100 caliber. I 



144 APPENDIX 

am short to-day, say, ^^"30,000; if I continue purchasing En- 
fields I shall be just so much more short to meet my contracts. 
Depending upon the receipt of another credit I have continued 
keeping possession of the market until I have made engage- 
ments to the above amount, beyond the ;^38o,ooo opened in 
my favor. 

I regret to inform you that Mr. Inman, the owner of the 
screw steamers from Liverpool, the line that we have been 
depending upon to carry our arms, informs us that " until 
further notice" he will not carry any articles "contraband of 
war." We had 178 cases there waiting shipment, which we 
have sent to Southampton to go by the steamer of the 19th. 
The steamer from Southampton on the 19th is the first one to 
sail, the Bremen Line having none. This, you will observe, 
throws all freight on that steamer. We shall ship some 50,000 
to 60,000 arms on her. All the arms from other parties will 
have to go by her. If she falls a prey to the Alabama she 
will be a rich prize. As she does not leave until the 19th 
from here you might send a vessel to casually look after her. 
Since my last, we have shipped per steamer Et7ia 3220 Enfields 
from here, 3280 69/100 caliber from Liege, and per steamer 
Teutonia 4600 Austrian, 54/100 caHber; 3140 Austrian, 58/100 
caliber; and 2220 Enfields; amount of Enfields to date 58,200, 
other arms 21,958. Inclosed you have recapitulation to date. 
Amount of drafts drawn, ;^i8i,957, 13.?., 4^. This is inde- 
pendent of amounts paid for Prussian and Austrian arms and for 
credit opened in favor of Tambeur Freres and Tanner and Co. 

Will give you account as the goods are shipped. I have 
opened an additional credit for i^i 5,000 for the Vienna pur- 
chase, leaving about ;^20,ooo yet to pay. 

I am obliged to close this, being interrupted unexpectedly 

about our freight. 

Yours respectfully, 

Marcellus Hartley. 
To Hon. E. M. Stanton. 



APPENDIX 145 

No. 18 

47 Hampton St., 
Birmingham, November 29, 1862. 
Dear Sir : 

My last was from here under date of the 22d inst., num- 
bered 17. To-day I received a telegram from S. H. & G. 
saying an additional credit was on the way. 

I immediately secured all the ready-made arms in the 
market at prices varying from 42/ to 50/, say about 6000, at 
an average price of 45/. 

I was obliged to slacken up in purchasing, as my credit 
would not have held out if all the manufacturers had delivered 
to time. Under the circumstances, it was just as well. The 
refusal of Mr. Inman to allow his steamers to carry con- 
traband of war threw all the freight upon the Southampton 
steamers, and as I had as much as I could ship, it was just 
as well, as it would not be safe to accumulate arms, without 
means of shipping them. 

I had already secured freight for 950 cases from Southamp- 
ton, at £/\. per ton, freight advanced to £'] , 10 per cent, primage. 
Your telegram in regard to the 69/100 I received in time to 
stop some 400 cases, which made room for those from here and 
what were shut out at Liverpool. 

The effect of Mr. Inman's refusal upon shippers here was 
caution, and they slackened up ; the consequence was guns 
here went down. Henderson and some of the manufacturers 
belonging to the Small Arms Company purchased at 42/ to 
48/, and they will go to New York. 

I cannot tell the nature of the instructions now due by the 
Scotia, but if you have enough arms for immediate use, would 
it not be as well either to stop purchasing in New York before 
the arrival of the steamer Bavaria, to sail on the 3d of Decem- 
ber, or to reduce the price to, say, $14.50 to $15 ? I cannot 



146 APPENDIX 

see why we should not as well avail ourselves of the market 
as to pay the speculators and manufacturers the difference. 
The Small Arms Company here is up to all dodges. I should 
like to manage them. Before my arrival here in July a con- 
tract could have been made with them at 42/ to 45/ ; they asked 
me 65/ on the start, etc. 

If you do not stop now prices will advance rapidly again. 
42/, exchange at 1.23, would make the cost of guns in New 
York, say, $12.13 ; 45/ at same rate, $13. You pay exchange 
all above 1.23. 

If you put the price down or stop, inform me, and I will 
stop purchase until I can buy at 42/ to 45/ and purchase all 
they have in hand, and if it is your desire to continue, I would 
bind them down, agreeing to take what stock they had at the 
above price, provided they would agree to give me all they 
could make at one or two months, at same price. The better 
plan would be to reduce the price, saying that guns can be 
bought and are now worth 42/, and tell Mr. Naylor that the 
Small Arms Company are buying at that. This information 
must not come from me. 

I have referred to the above, as I think, if they are sharp, we 
should be. 

I have not paid higher than £$ per ton freight, always 
threatening to ship by the Bremen or Hamburg Line, as the 
case would be, but after next week there is no steamer of an 
opposition Hne until the 26th of December, so I shall be obHged 
to pay it, although I have succeeded in obtaining the difference 
of railroad charges between here and Southampton and Liver- 
pool. 

I have not yet disposed of any of the 69/100 caliber; two 
parties have talked of buying. After Monday I shall be able 
to give it my personal attention. 

Of the 10,000 Enfields ordered in Liege, 4000 only have 
been delivered. These arms are better than any English-made 
arms, excepting those of the London Armory Company, 



APPENDIX 147 

This steamer starting from Bremen, we have no Austrian 
on board, but have some on the steamer from Hamburg to- 
day — some 5000. 

Inclosed you have duplicate invoices and statement of 
shipment. Amount of Enfields to date, 70,120; total number 
of arms, 131,810. 

Yours truly, 

Marcellus Hartley. 
To Hon. E. M. Stanton. 



No. 22 

47 Hampton St., 
Birmingham, December 20, 1862. 



Dear Sir . 



My last was from here under date of the 17th inst.. No. 21, 
containing an offer from the London Armory Company. 

I now have the pleasure of inclosing invoices of our last ship- 
ment, being the largest and best yet made. By the steamer 
Hamnionia, which was to have sailed the 1 7th inst., from South- 
ampton, but was delayed owing to some disarrangement of her 
machinery (inclosed you have newspaper account) and sailed 
to-day, have been shipped 

1,700 interchangeable Enfield rifles 
28,060 hand-made ditto 
10,978 Austrian 54/100 and 58/100 caHbers. 



148 APPENDIX 

The balance of Enfields to make the amount of inclosed in- 
voices will be shipped by steamer New York, to sail the 24th 
inst. from Southampton with the 69/100 calibers, viz: 

500 interchangeable Enfields 
7,300 hand-made ditto 
13,860 French rifled muskets — 69/100. 



The above, no doubt, is the largest shipment ever made by one 
party, or ever obtained in the same time of first-class Enfields, 
37,560. I have made every effort here, in London and Liege 
to obtain all the Enfields in hand. In London and Liege I 
cleaned the market out, but here could have obtained 5000 
more if they could have been viewed. We have worked day 
and night for the last sixteen days. It has required care and 
caution to push the manufacturers to this unusual quantity, 
without materially advancing the price. In London and Liege, 
though I advanced the price for a short time, I gave them 
larger orders than they could complete, and bought them at the 
low price, and in Liege from 2 francs to 5 francs less. Here in 
Birmingham I started at 42/ on the 29th of November, but had 
to advance to 50/, or should have lost many of the guns. 

I shall not be able to obtain the freight bills of the Hammo- 
nia and the New York until the beginning of the week, which 
will delay my accounts, but they shall be forwarded with the 
vouchers next week. 

I have not insured any of the arms ; they all have arrived in 
safety, as far as heard from. The shipment by the Hammonia 
is very large and valuable, amounting to, say, £\ 10,000. As 
this advice will reach you before her arrival, if you think it 
proper they can be insured in New York. 

I have used about ;(^i 10,000 of the last credit. Amount of 



APPENDIX 149 

Enfields shipped to date, 110,140; total amount of arms 
shipped, 204,848. 

Yours respectfully, 

Marcellus Hartley. 

To Hon. E. M. Stanton, 

Secretary of War. 



New York, February 20, 1864. 

Hon. E. M. Stanton, 

Secretary of War, 
Washington. 
Dear Sir : 

Will you please inform me if my accounts for the purchase 
of arms in Europe have been examined and adjusted ? If so, I 
shall be obliged to you if you will acknowledge the same. 

The accounts have been in your possession since, say, the 
1st of March last. 

Yours respectfully, 

Marcellus Hartley. 



APR 14 1S05 



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